Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is laying off 11,500 staff after the government ordered all gambling venues closed for at least six months to prevent further COVID-19 transmission.

On Thursday, Crown announced that the government-ordered shutdown of gaming activities and other non-essential services at its Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth casinos on March 23 had forced the company to “substantially reduce its workforce.” Only employees in “business-critical functions” remain on the job.

The company said it has “progressively stood down, on either a full or partial basis, approximately 95% or over 11,500 of its employees.” Crown has attempted to soften the blow by making an ex gratia payment of two weeks’ pay to full-time and part-time employees who’ve been stood down, while eligible casual workers will get a lump sum payment of AU$1,000.

In an attempt to demonstrate that the pain is being felt at all levels, Crown CEO Ken Barton and “certain other senior management” are taking 20% pay cuts until June 30. Crown’s chair and board of directors are also taking 20% cuts for the same duration.

Online sports betting operators are getting increasingly creative and/or desperate in their search for something on which their customers can wager.

The New Paper reported that Singapore-based bettors are being targeted by internationally licensed online betting sites offering wagers based on select countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia – reporting new COVID-19 coronavirus infections.

The markets on offer aren’t specifically based on how many infections each country reports, but rather on whether the number is even or odd, or whether it’s over or under the previous day’s figure. Bettors can also wager on the last digit of each market’s report, similar to how unauthorized lotteries offer bets on the results of official lotteries in some Asia-Pacific countries.

The sites reportedly emerged in the week following Singapore suspending all gambling – even the online offering of Singapore Pools – through May 4 as a so-called ‘circuit breaker’ to reduce further COVID-19 transmission. Nature abhors a vacuum, after all, and here we are.

Online gambling operator Optibet has filed a legal challenge of Latvia’s decision to suspend online gambling activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, Latvian-licensed online gambling operator Optibet filed an appeal with the country’s Constitutional Court challenging Article 9 of the law approved last month that suspended nearly all gambling activity – including interactive gambling – to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Optibet’s Baltic chief Dainis Niedra said the online ban “not only has nothing to do with combating the spread of COVID-19, it also endangers the Latvian population.” Niedra noted the impact on locals who’d signed up for Latvia’s online self-exclusion register, who will now elect to gamble with internationally licensed operators whose actions fall outside the scope of the Lotteries and Gambling Supervision Inspectorate (IAUI).

Georgian Ustinov, CEO of Optibet’s parent company Enlabs AB, warned last month that the legislation “unjustifiably excluded” state-owned lottery operator SJSC Latvijas Loto, which holds a local monopoly on online lottery sales. Niedra said this exemption amounts to illegal state aid under European Union trade rules.

France’s online gambling regulator has instructed its online poker licensees to stop offering bonuses to players who might be tempted to play more during COVID-19 self-isolation.

On Tuesday, French regulator ARJEL issued a notice regarding the current paucity of live sports and racing events, which has left France’s online gamblers with few legal options besides online poker (France has yet to authorize online casino gambling).

ARJEL said online poker revenue has “increased significantly in recent weeks,” coinciding with restrictions on public gatherings that led to the suspension of most sports and racing events. This was “attracting more players and in particular new players” to online poker, who might not be used to this “more intensive practice.”

ARJEL said operators “should not multiply incentives to gambling” by offering bonuses to players and should be “particularly vigilant” about players exhibiting signs of problem gambling activity. ARJEL also urged players to make use of programs intended to limit deposits, spending and time spent playing poker.

Atlantic City casinos snapped their 21-month revenue growth streak in March following the mid-month closures aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

On Wednesday, New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement announced that its nine casinos had generated combined slots and table revenue of slightly under $85.5m, a 61.7% decline from March 2019 and roughly the same slide from February 2020’s total.

The nine casinos (as well as the state’s three racetracks) were ordered to close their doors mid-month to minimize further COVID-19 transmission, snapping the market’s 21-month streak of annual gaming revenue gains.

The figure would have been much worse without the casinos’ online casino, poker and sports betting options, which added a combined $71.2m to March’s overall total. Counting those digital options, the market’s revenue was down 42.7% year-on-year to $156.7m.

New Jersey’s regulated online gambling market defied the COVID-19 pandemic by setting yet another revenue record in the month of March, with a particularly strong showing from the beleaguered online poker vertical.

Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show state-licensed online operators generated revenue of $64.8m in March, a 65.6% rise from the same month last year and obliterating the previous record set this January by nearly $10m.

The outsized gains were made possible by the closure of the state’s land-based gambling options, including Atlantic City’s nine casinos and three state racetracks, on March 16 as the local government attempted to minimize further COVID-19 transmission.

March’s online casino revenue rose 64.4% year-on-year to just under $61.2m, while the perpetually struggling online poker vertical doubled its total from February to a record $3.6m, beating January 2014’s previous record of $3.4m.

Online gambling operator 888 Holdings generated record revenue in 2019 but earnings and profits fell as the cost of operating in regulated markets took its terrible toll.

Figures released Wednesday by the UK-listed 888 show the company’s revenue hitting US$560.3m in 2019, a 6% rise from 2018’s result. But earnings (the real deal, not the adjusted hokum) fell by more than one-third to $84.2m and pre-tax profit plunged 58.3% to $45.3m.

The net decline was partially due to a 37% rise in duties in regulated markets, as 888’s share of revenue from ‘regulated and taxed’ markets rose four points to a record-high 74%. 888 made its regulated debuts in Portugal and Sweden last year, and recently launched its first proprietary sportsbook in the latter market.

Total B2C revenue was up 11% to $530.5m, with growth reported across all verticals except poker, which slipped 13% to $42.7m despite the launch of 888’s shared liquidity between Portugal and Spain. 888 says poker revenue improved in the second half of 2019 and the vertical remains an important customer acquisition channel.

Casinos in Indiana and Mississippi reported sharp drops in revenue in the month of March as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of gaming operations.

Figures released by the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) show the state’s 11 casinos and two racinos generated gaming revenue of just $98m in March, nearly $100m below February’s total, the result of the state ordering all gaming venues to close on March 16 to prevent further transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Sports betting was also negatively impacted, both from the shutdown of retail sportsbooks and the suspension of most sports events, including the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament.

While mobile betting continues, March betting handle totaled only $74.8m, down from $187.2m in February, while betting revenue fell by half to $5.5m, the lowest monthly total since the state launched legal wagering last September.