Morgan Stanley Predicts Online Gambling, Sports Betting Will Boom

As sports events and matches have come to a standstill due to the coronavirus, online gaming manages to draw in thousands of new players every day. In states that allow sports betting at physical locations and online, the industry is booming and becoming a gold mine.

Officials at the Wall Street company, Stanley Morgan, said the industry will continue to expand as the coronavirus starts to see a slowing in cities and states throughout the country. Since the Supreme Court overruled a ban on sports betting in 2018, several states have opted to make sports betting legal.

A few of the states that have legal sports betting also have online casinos and other types of online gambling. The industry was taking billions of dollars in up until the coronavirus shut most industries down.

Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are a few of the states that allow online sports betting and gaming. When Colorado launches sports betting on May 1, there will be 16 states that will have legalized sports betting.

Pandemic Can’t Stop Online Gambling From Expanding

Thomas Allen, who is a gaming analyst with Morgan Stanley, weighed in on the company prediction about online sports betting and gaming. Allen said, “We believe the impact of COVID-19 could spur more states to legalize online casinos and sports betting.”

That statement was included in a note that the 85-year-old company sent out to its investment clients. Many economists and financial analysts believe that states will have to come up with ways to recapture lost revenue from the forced shutdowns.

If the shortfall is not replaced, experts say, a lot of state programs will not be able to survive or face major cutbacks. Several states have assembled financial strategy committees to study what revenue has been lost and come up with ways to bring in revenue.

New Jersey and Nevada have allowed iGaming into the market to generate much-needed revenue. The states that are allowing iGaming are doing an enormous amount of business that has exceeded all expectations.

New Jersey’s online gaming took in $65 million more from the same time last year despite the shutdown. Pennsylvania introduced online sports betting and gambling in the summer of 2019. In the last month, they have made $25 million more than the same period last year.

Allen Predicts That iGaming In New Jersey Will Make Bank

Allen, who is charged with studying the trends in the gaming industry, said New Jersey is on course to make over $700 million this year. That amount is despite millions of people filing unemployment and a worldwide shutdown.

Allen said, “iGaming is on fire and will continue to boom; the writing is on the wall.” A huge force in the gaming industry is Penn National Gaming, which has properties all over the country.

The CEO of Penn National Gaming, Jay Snowden, took part in a virtual interview on Tuesday. Snowden said his company will deliver meaningful revenue and profit contributions in 2021 and well beyond.

Snowden said that Penn National Gaming has been investing in iGaming for several years already. They were strategically a very good place, as the virus swept through the world to create havoc.

The iGaming platforms owned by Penn National are Hollywoodcasino.com, Hollywoodraces.com, and Viva Slots. In the first quarter of 2020, the Stars Group had a record-setting first quarter, due in part to their iGaming venture, PokerStars.