- Start of ‘soft reopening’ of casinos in some US states
- COVID-19 pandemic-wary gamblers remain at home
- Online casinos bring new bonuses for stay-at-home players
Let’s start this casino industry weekly news recap with a reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over in the United States. As a result, some states still haven’t allowed land-based casinos to reopen their doors to the public.
There are some states, however, in which casinos are back in business, albeit with social-distancing measures.
Social Distancing in US Casinos
In last week’s recap, there was a talk about land-based casinos reopening. The same trend was followed this week as well. In many states that have loosened down their COVID-19 restrictions, casinos have reopened their doors.
However, things still haven’t gone back to normal, as all of the casinos in the US need to maintain social distancing. Some of the modifications they had to make to ensure the rules are followed include a temperature check for the visitors, plexiglass panels between machines, and so on. Players are also required to wear masks while they’re inside the casino, as well as keep distance between each other.
To achieve social distancing, many casinos were forced to reduce the number of seats in table games. Roulette tables that had over ten seats, now have six. Baccarat tables? Four seats. Blackjack? Three.
As a result, the social aspect of casino gambling seems to have vanished. With the strict anti-coronavirus measures on, casinos have become places where not much aside from gambling is possible. Mingling with like-minded people inside casinos has practically become impossible.
Online Casinos Still Sought After in America
With land-based casinos not offering the same level of entertainment as they were in the pre-COVID-19 world, many gamblers have decided to switch to online casinos.
The online gambling business has been booming since the early days of the pandemic. Even though the pandemic has started curbing down, there are no signs gamblers are going to lose interest in online casinos anytime soon.
Data from Google Trends is proof of that. People keep on searching the internet for everything related to web-based casinos.
Online search activity for the term ‘casinos’ peaked on March 16, which was the day when White House asked Americans to stay home for a period of a couple of weeks.
The search volume for terms like ‘online casinos’ hint that people based in states like Delaware and New Jersey, where online gambling is legal, have been using internet gaming to deal with lockdown boredom.
Fast-forward two months and America has started to reopen. Still, brick-and-mortar casinos still haven’t experienced a boom in the number of visitors. Instead of rushing to land-based casinos, a big portion of them remains at home playing online casino games.
Fear of coronavirus and comfort of playing casino games from home are probably the main reasons. There might be another explanation – online casinos have started offering some very attractive bonus deals lately.
New Bonuses & Promos Keep Popping Up
Practically all online casinos in the United States have some bonus deals meant to incentivize new players to sign up.
Now that more Americans are staying at home than ever, internet casinos have decided to up the ante. Apart from the standard types of bonuses, e.g., Welcome Bonus, some of them have included more ‘exotic’ promos in the offer.
Slotocash, for example, has come up with a pretty creative promo offer, which takes Mexican wrestling back 2,000 to Ancient Rome.
Called Lucha Libre in Ancient Rome, the promotion brings big cash prizes, together with 350 Free Spins on certain slot games.
Other attractive promo deals you can grab these days include the following:
- Lincoln Casino – 150% up to $150 + 50 Spins on Cleopatra’s Pyramid II & 20,000 League
- Liberty Slots Casino – 150% up to $150 + 50 Spins on King Tiger & Funky Chicks
- Miami Club Casino – 150% up to $150 + 50 spins on Down the Drain & 20,000 Leagues
These are just some examples of awesome bonus deals at players’ disposal at the moment. To stay in the loop about the best casino bonuses, make sure to visit MobileCasinoParty on a regular basis!