For many, the current state of the world (and in truth, how the world has been over the last year) has made gambling a more reasonable way to earn a profit, with people in the US losing their jobs and incomes left and right following the Corona pandemic. 

Corona cases and deaths in the US and Florida

As everyone is aware, COVID-19 has had a lasting impact on the entire world. In terms of the entirety of the pandemic, Florida has been hit rather hard in terms of both cases and deaths compared to the US in general, as reported by the government. 

At the time of writing this article, the US has had a total of 755.201 COVID-19 related deaths. Luckily, Florida seems to have decreased its share of daily cases over the past few months and is now in the lower end of the spectrum. 

Without a sense of regularity, people fervently seek a sense of normality elsewhere. The pandemic was obviously an extraordinary event which called for special treatment and regulation of one’s daily practice. 

For example, we previously reported how the religious institutions were also hit by the lockdown, forcing people to give up their spiritual health alongside their physical and mental wellbeing. This added another layer on top of the illness, death, and loss experienced across the world and seems to have been the ultimate combination (alongside unemployment) to make people want to gamble more than usual. 

Unemployment in the US and its effects on the gambling market

Public health is not the only sector that has taken quite a beating from the pandemic’s rule, however. The general employment rate plummeted in 2020, however, according to research conducted by Pew Research Center, the unemployment rates could have been more than double the amount initially assessed. This means that in April 2020, U.S. unemployment was at a staggering 22.7%, affecting mainly low-wage workers.

With people’s livelihoods snatched away from them without notice, many ended up in financially unstable situations with lives and bills that could not be supported or paid. In these situations, we often see people turn to hazardous activities (or even illegal ones) in order to recoup and gain some kind of economic stability. 

Are people turning to betting and gambling out of desperation and necessity?

As has been reported in numerous research papers, databases, and statistical reviews, the online gambling market is booming and is expected to follow a steady slope of annual growth over the next 6 years, at least, as mentioned in a report by Grand View Research in 2020. 

In this same report, COVID-19 was projected to have a favorable impact on the gambling market, specifically due to the ease with which one can find and use digital gambling sites. 

As the numbers show, gambling has been a major part of society’s economic structure long before COVID-19 was a factor. Therefore, the pandemic cannot be blamed solely for the increase in gambling activity – however, it has certainly been a major contributing force. 

As people are wont, when things get tough, desperate measures can become essential measures. At the same time, gambling and betting are great sources of entertainment for many – and addictive curses to others – which makes the numbers explode further, especially with people being locked in their houses for days on end with not much else to do. 

How people are finding new gambling sites

Some companies specialize in actively engaging with the urge to place bets and gamble money – by creating digital spaces that guide the individual through the industry. For example, many people find their new gambling sites listed on basketballinsiders, which is a website that reviews the best online casinos and gambling sites in the U.S. 

With sites such as this, people won’t end up unsure of what they can expect from certain sites and it makes the gaming industry seem more approachable by new visitors. With the digitalization of online entertainment and hazard games, the market is sure to boom, even in a pandemic – or perhaps, especially in a pandemic – where people are unable to rely on their usual pattern of behavior and existence. 

Will the job market ever boom, so hazardous activities become less reliable?

The job market always fluxuates; it is a dynamic system that adapts, ebbs and flows. To think that the job market has hit a major low and that it is going to remain as such forever is naïve; obviously it will get to a better place in the future. When this is going to happen, however, is more difficult to predict. 

Hopefully, with employment going up, people will no longer feel the need to rely on gambling and hazard gaming to support themselves and their families through a miraculous jackpot win, but instead can return to their regular jobs. 

This does not mean that gambling will go away, of course, at least not according to the reports mentioned in this article – but the reliance and the necessity will be detached from the activity, as has otherwise been the case, for a long time, leading to healthier habits.