The sports betting industry was poised to take off in the US with about two dozen states legalizing their respective gaming markets. March could have led to new records for the states with NCAA Men’s Basketball event and European football tournaments. However, now the sportsbooks are left to fend for themselves as major sporting events stand canceled.

The May 1 shock

Under ordinary circumstances, May 1 would have been an important day for sports betting as Colorado opened its market to punters. The event happened in a lackluster way with only a few sportsbooks and no credible sporting events. Westgate, the Las Vegas based sportsbook was one of the operators all set to open shop in Denver on May 1 at The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk. The governor’s stay at home response had a substantial effect on their opening plans.

Executive vice president Jay Kornegay said,

“We were gearing up. Next thing you know we had all these restrictions. We’re looking at June, but I wouldn’t be surprised now if it’s not until July 1.”

Westgate could not open its sportsbooks to the public. Therefore, instead of 15-20 new sportsbooks tied up with local casinos, the casino got only four mobile apps operated by Rivers, MGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings.

The pandemic took away the industry’s momentum

The US sports betting industry has been picking pace after PASPA was struck down two years ago. Since then, expansion has been on the rise, and states are happy with their new source of revenue. However, the pandemic led to the shutdown of casinos across the country followed by the cancellation of sporting events. Senior vice president of the American Gaming Association Casey Clark said that the gaming industry was disproportionately affected by the pandemic. As casinos are shut down, more than 650,000 people are out of work.

The only way to take advantage of the situation is to depend on mobile betting, which is currently available only in 10 states. However, keeping sportsbooks open is still a losing game as there are no sports on bet on. Sportsbook operators are now finding obscure events like Russian Ping-Pong, Belarusian football, or Japanese sumo wrestling for their users. The AGA estimates that the industry is losing $43 billion because of the pandemic. This will lead to job cuts as well, which have already started at some casinos.