This completely virtual SBC Digital Summit has been nothing short of an overwhelming success. All week, the global gaming industry has had incredible insight into what is happening as a result of the coronavirus, as well as what is coming in the future. Bringing everything to a close today, emphasis was placed on two hot topics that are becoming more relevant as the gaming ecosystem changes – how to manage operations remotely and how affiliates are playing a major role in the evolving space.

Representatives from KPMG Malta, Matthew Scerri and Claudine Borg Azzopardi, provided an invaluable contribution to how companies can stay focused and complete their goals while employees adapt a remote working environment. Like never before, the gaming industry is having to rely heavily on the self-discipline and responsibility of its employees, individually sheltered from the rest of the world due to stay-at-home orders across the globe. While making such a drastic and sudden switch from an office to a remote environment can potentially cause issues, there are ways to mitigate any problems that might emerge.

It’s important that businesses provide clear guidance on the tasks and responsibilities that are delegated out to the workforce. They have to ensure that everyone understands the proper internal structures, so employees know where to turn for answers, and they also need to be ready to support wellbeing and social cohesion in spite of the physical separations. There are some challenges that will have to be mitigated, such as how to keep motivation high and how to properly evaluate performance, but companies that develop strong regimens of communication and detailed workflows will be able to easily overcome these issues.

Following that highly enlightening and insightful presentation, it was time to take a look at the world of affiliates in the gaming industry. Two separate seminars were held to cover both the marketing side of the operations and how the space is going to evolve going forward, and brought together several representatives from affiliate and gaming channels that are helping to shape the sector’s future.

Massachusetts’ three casinos will remain closed until at least May 18 due to the state’s inability to get a handle on its COVID-19 outbreak.

On Friday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) unanimously voted to extend the temporary closure of its three casinos until May 18, in keeping with the latest orders from Gov. Charlie Baker. The state’s number of infections is over 62k, the third-highest in the US, while the death toll has surpassed 3,500.

MGC chair Cathy Judd-Stein said the situation would be reassessed prior to May 18 but noted that “the timeline to reopen is still uncertain.” The focus now is on developing a “responsible restart plan” with input from the casinos, state and local leaders and public health officials that will lay down ground rules under which the casinos could reopen.

The MGC ordered Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park to shut their doors on March 14 to minimize further transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Friday saw Gov. Baker order all state residents to wear facemasks in public when social distancing measures are impossible, suggesting this show is far from over.

Denmark’s gambling regulator has declared war against international online operators, while unauthorized bingo is getting a hard look in both Denmark and the Netherlands during the coronavirus lockdown.

This week, Denmark’s Spillemyndigheden regulatory agency announced that it had convinced a district court to order local internet service providers to block the domains of 16 online gambling sites serving local punters without the regulator’s permission.

Spillemyndigheden originally targeted 17 domains but one provider withdrew its services from the market prior to the court considering the regulator’s request. The offending sites, which Spillemyndigheden declined to identify, consisted of seven online casinos, seven ‘skin betting’ sites and two online sportsbooks.

Spillemyndigheden began targeting unauthorized sites following the 2012 liberalization of Denmark’s online market, although it has stated that the number of offending sites is “continuously low.” Counting this latest legal massacre, the number of online scalps hanging from the regulatory lodge pole now totals 90.

Australia’s online gambling activity is still in a state of pandemic elevation, although its growth took a bit of a hit in recent weeks.

New data published this week by economic analysts AlphaBeta and credit bureau Illion show Australian online gambling transactions in the week ending April 19 were up 60% from a ‘normal’ week. Only six economic categories posted any growth as spending per person was 14% below ‘normal’ levels.

The usual suspects have seized on these figures to renew their call to put online gambling in the public pillory, but it’s worth noting that growth figure was below the 67% rate Illion reported in the week ending March 29. Online gambling topped all growth sectors in the March results but in April could manage only third-place behind ‘furniture & office’ (+66%) and ‘food delivery’ (+156%).

If anything should sound the alarm, it’s the food delivery growth, which was up a comparatively paltry 63% on the March chart. Given that most order-in food is generally not high on the health scale, why are Australia’s Chicken Littles not screaming about the imminent spike in heart disease, diabetes and size XXL T-shirt sales?