Portugal’s online gambling operators are bracing for the possibility that their casino and poker verticals could be suspended for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, Portuguese legislators approved Bill-326, which proposes to establish “partial or total limitations on access to online gaming platforms” during the country’s state of emergency due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The bill’s accompanying text notes that Portugal has closed all its land-based gambling venues to prevent further COVID-19 transmission, while claiming that local residents’ self-isolation had exposed them to “unlimited and uncontrolled access to online gaming channels.”

The text singles out “casino games, bingo and poker” as posing a particularly addictive threat in the current crisis. The text includes a link to a site that claims online casino and poker growth has risen by double-digits since the pandemic took hold. This claim turns out to be entirely based on a recent trading update by UK-listed 888 Holdings, which launched its Portugal-licensed site last year.

Nevada’s casinos are exploring possible ways to restart their operations following last month’s state-ordered shutdown of nearly all gaming.

On Wednesday, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman climbed up into her bully pulpit and went on a bit of a rant, calling the COVID-19-related shutdown of all casinos “total insanity, in my opinion.” Goodman claimed that the state’s 128 coronavirus-related deaths “represent less than a half of 1% of our population,” and thus the gutting of Nevada’s casino-based economy “makes no sense.”

Goodman slammed Gov. Steve Sisolak, who ordered a 30-day shutdown of all gaming venues on March 17 and later extended that order through the end of April. Goodman claimed Sisolak had “no plan in place” to restart Nevada’s economy and yet still urged him to “Open the city. Open Clark County. Open the state. For heaven’s sake, being closed is killing us already.”

That last claim was amply demonstrated this week as the Lakeside Inn and Casino on Lake Tahoe announced that it was closing its doors for good after 35 years. The casino previously said it hoped to reopen once the closure order was lifted but now says the math simply doesn’t work.

Pennsylvania’s gambling market took it on the chin in March following the closures of the state’s casinos due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) show overall gaming revenue of $153.5m in March, down 51% from the same month last year and 49.5% below February 2020’s total.

Some Pennsylvania’s casinos began to voluntarily shut their doors in early March to minimize further spread of the coronavirus and all 12 casinos were closed by mid-month on the PGCB’s order. As a result, all 12 casinos reported double-digit revenue declines last month, although some fared significantly better than others.

Parx Casino led all comers as usual with overall revenue of $26.2m, a year-on-year decline of 54.7%. Rivers Casino Philadelphia ranked second with $21.1m, falling a comparatively modest 26.6%. The smallest decline was experienced by Valley Forge Casino Resort, which dipped only 10.7% to $12.1m.

UK betting operators hoping for the imminent resumption of the nation’s horseracing sector had their hopes dashed on Thursday after the COVID-19 suspension was extended.

On Wednesday, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced that the pandemic-related suspension of all racing meets, which was due to expire at the end of this month, would be extended indefinitely as the government plans to extend its current lockdown provisions by another three weeks.

The BHA, which imposed the racing suspension in mid-March, announced last week that it hoped to lift the suspension by May 1 pending government approval. But the government announced another 861 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, prompting Health Minister Matt Hancock to declare that “it is too early to make a change.”

The BHA says it will continue to plan for the resumption of some racing ‘behind closed doors’ next month if “the safety of participants can be assured and the pressure on the health service allows.” The BHA added that the idea of racing with crowds in the stands is out of the question “until June at the earliest.”

Macau casinos may have welcomed far fewer visitors in the first quarter of 2020 but mass market gaming revenue still managed to outpace its flashier VIP cousin.

Figures released Thursday by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show market-wide gaming revenue of just MOP30.6b (US$3.84b) in the three months ending March 31. That’s a 60% reduction from the same period last year and nearly as great a reduction from the final quarter of 2019.

VIP baccarat revenue totaled MOP14.8b, down from MOP32.3b in Q419, while mass market baccarat revenue fell to MOP12.15b from MOP30.7b. VIP baccarat’s share of the overall Q1 pie was 48.3%, up from 44.8% in Q419, but other mass market gaming options kept VIP from regaining the overall revenue crown.

Mass market gaming has now eclipsed VIP baccarat for five consecutive quarters, despite the dramatic drop-off in Q1 visitation sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Macau’s casinos were forced to close for 15 days in February and the market’s recovery has been painfully slow, to say the least.