The coronavirus outbreak has swept almost every industry, from manufacturing, travel, and hospitality to airlines, transportation, and sports. Due to this deadly disease, everything has been halted, whether be it traveling or sporting events. Major sporting events like the NBA, NHL, and MLB seasons, are on hold. The coronavirus pandemic has also dealt a blow to the sports-betting industry. Sports-betting companies and the media businesses that had been rushing to take advantage of the industry are now cutting costs to keep up their businesses afloat and exploring innovative ways to keep fans entertained while much of the sports world has postponed to another date.

For some sports betting and media companies, the name of the game right now is cutting costs and conserving capital. Product launches that had been planned around major sporting times like March Madness or MLB’s opening day are being suspended.

In the gaming industry, the impact of Covid-19 is quite evident. The Game Developer Conference 2020 has already been overdue to summers. However, while new dates are yet to be announced, industry analysts are predicting that this will unconstructively affect the growth potential of the gaming industry in years to come.

Here are Losses Due to Coronavisus Outbreak

Every March, billions of dollars are bet on the NCAA’s men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The tournament, named March Madness, is not just a pulsating, buzzer-beating action on the courtyard, but also a stress-induced swing for sports gambles.

According to the Action Network, rather than all that money profiting Las Vegas sportsbooks and anywhere else gambling is legalized, 20 total states in addition to Washington D.C. have legalized sports betting. However, due to the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, billions of amounts are now missing from these sportsbooks.

With this disease, countries like Italy and Spain have undergone full quarantine, while limits on large social gatherings are being imposed from the US Center for Controlled Diseases and Preventing.

Last year, there were nearly US$8.5 billion in total gamblers placed on March Madness, including bets coming from almost 47 million Americans. Along with bets on the outcomes of games, the average fan filled out four brackets with a typical entry of around US$30. Furthermore, according to the American Gaming Association, New Jersey gaming operators brought in nearly US$32 million during March Madness last March. Besides, Nevada sportsbooks typically handle US$500 million a month on sports betting.

Though halting March Madness causes loss of US$8.5 billion in total wagers made from approximately 47 million Americans every year. Physical sportsbook operators are impacted most, as they own massive casinos and retail locations that have mostly been shut down. This is largely because tourists make for a substantial chunk that patronizes physical casinos. But now the entire tourism industry has been shoddily hit by the shut down imposed in many countries on travel in order to curb the coronavirus outbreak.