Covid blows the bank. With 295 days of closure of 5 thousand slot halls, 10 thousand betting agencies and at least 200 bingo halls public gaming is one of the sectors most affected by the restrictions. This while we do not see a possibility of reopening. The economic crisis also has heavy repercussions on public accounts: with the closures now almost continuous from 9 March 2020 to next 30 April, the Treasury has lost revenues for over 5 billion (a figure certified by the statistical revenue bulletin issued by the Department of Finance ), equal to 44.2% less than the 11.3 billion collected from Monopoli in 2019.
According to the data processed by the specialized press agency Agipronews, the greatest damage to the turnover was suffered by the segment of devices (Slots and Vlt), which recorded a drop of 54% (to 4.7 billion) compared to to 2019. Following, bets, with a 36% decrease in spending, which settles at 800 million, while lotteries and Bingo have lost 25%, stopping at 4.4 billion.
Loading…
Compared to April 2019 (in 2020 it was already in full lockdown) it is estimated that the reduction in total expenditure, in the current month, will be equal to approximately one billion euros, with a consequent loss for the tax authorities of over 600 million. On the other hand, it is the same data from the Department of Finance that sound the alarm bell on the holding of revenue from legal gambling and the growth of illegal gambling (see the article opposite); in the first two months the decline for the state coffers was over 862 million.
The bleeding isn’t just about income. Each week of closure also risks translating into an economic and social emergency, setting thousands of companies and workers currently in layoffs towards bankruptcy and unemployment. Due to the stop, about a third of 1 50 thousand employees overall in the sector – 50,000 are employees in gaming, betting and bingo halls – risks losing their jobs.
Closures and refreshments
On balance, the rooms and game points have been more than 2 days out of 3 with the shutters down in the last 13 months. The Scientific Technical Committee has spoken out against the reopening of gambling halls, betting agencies and Bingo. The risk classification for these activities, in fact, is of medium-high level for the CTS, which had only given the managers a breath of fresh air in the summer. The Dpcm of 11 June 2020 had given the green light to the reopening for a total of about four months (depending on the reference region) until October. Then came the new lockout. And the refreshments granted by the government were not enough. The aid is considered to be below the possibility of minimizing the loss of turnover, with percentages further lowered by the extension of the closures. At this point, the operators explain, the ratio between loss of revenues and resources arriving from the State has fallen “well below 5%”, and is further decreasing despite the approval of the Sostegni decree now being examined by the Senate. As Massimiliano Pucci, president of the As.tro association explained, “the latest government decree covers only 2-3% of the losses suffered last year”.