Ever since I first covered 888 here back in March 2015, I’ve been an 888 bull. I still believe the company is fundamentally sound as gaming companies go. I still believe in its management. And I still believe that once the dust settles from all the mess that’s going on now in the world and in the United Kingdom specifically – COVID-19, a (still) potential no-deal Brexit, and probably turmoil in the abused currency markets – 888 will emerge stronger, and will even end up acquiring many of its more indebted competitors who I do not believe will make it out of the current morass in one piece.

What I am unsure of and can no longer measure with any confidence, is the appropriate value for the stock. That may sound like a copout, but with broad-based rolling economic shutdowns, unstable and unpredictable government responses to 2nd or 3rd or 4th waves or whatever is coming at us real or manufactured, and money-printing without any precedent, to feign knowledge of what reasonable capital values may be in this environment is nothing short of voodoo. All the projections put out by companies about growth trends, new markets and whatever else, has little to no basis anymore.

We got our post shutdown bounce. It was huge. Consumer-facing stocks like 888 could still rocket from here, but I wouldn’t be willing to bet on it anymore.

Beyond all the obvious turmoil, 888 and others will have an additional problem and burden. The U.K. gambling industry generally will continue to play the role of piñata for the U.K.’s problems. That is unavoidable. Taxes will likely be raised still further and restrictions on gamers will intensify. Poverty, entirely due to locking down the country and disrupting normal life, will be blamed on gambling addiction, which has a good chance of actually rising as unemployment rises, simply because people are bored and depressed and tend to gravitate to unhealthy patterns when these circumstances arise. This is just human nature and has little to do with “predatory gambling companies”.