A physical ICE North America may not be happening this year, but a digital event can be just as good, and necessary. So in its place, Clarion launched ICE North America Digital on May 11, and with a couple of panels, and a keynote speech from Simon Holliday, Founder of H2 Gambling Capital.

Holliday began by noting how rare the current COVID-19 pandemic is. We’ve only seen this before in MERS and SARS, but they had only a fraction of the impact we’re now seeing. Even with SARS, which affected gambling in the Asian region, the impact was mitigated by the industry’s growth in other regions.

He noted that H2 Gambling Capital gave its first downgrade to the industry when Macau shut down earlier this year. The forecast for the industry as a whole is now at $376 billion in Gross Gambling Win for 2020, down 20.6% from $474 billion, and back down to 2011 levels. “We are assuming a returning to normality in most markets by Q4 2020 at the moment, which in reality might seem a little ambitious,” he said. In reality, it could be years before most things return to a sense of normalcy, particularly leisure businesses like the gambling sector.

He expects the effects will be hard for many, with more consolidation, acceleration to the move online, and operations trying to insulate by offering alternative products and innovation.