In light of the economic impact brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail gambling revenue in Lithuania plummeted.
Retail Gambling Revenue in Lithuania Plummeted in 2020
The global COVID-19 pandemic which started early last year has impacted millions of businesses across the globe. By now, there isn’t a place in the world that has not felt the devastating economic hit brought by the pandemic. The gambling industry also suffered from the spread of the virus, with many operators temporarily shutting down. Some operators had to take the difficult decision and even lay off a part of their workforce.
Lithuania is one of the European countries that felt the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the respiratory disease (COVID-19) started spreading, Lithuania, similar to many other European countries, introduced a temporary shutdown of the retail gambling venues. Lasting from mid-March, until mid-May, the shutdown disrupted gambling revenue and led to losses in millions of euros. Furthermore, the shutdown also resulted in the global postponing of all major sports events.
As a result of the COVID-19 shutdown, the gambling revenue in Lithuania in 2020 reached €103.5 million, which represents an 8.1% decrease when compared to 2019. Gambling retail revenue hit €43.9 million which is another decrease of 39.1% when comparing year-on-year results.
A decrease was observed in the total revenue for retail sports betting that halted at €5.7 million. Furthermore, a decrease was observed in the revenue of Lithuania’s lottery – Olifeja. The lottery ticket sales halted at €106.3 million, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 6.7%. The table game revenue had also plummeted to €10.2 million, while online table games revenue halted at €1.9 million.
On the bright side, the online slot revenue from category A slots doubled, reaching €29.4 million. A positive result was also observed for category B online slots, which reached €1.2 million in revenue or an increase of 47.4%. With that in mind, considering the 2020 results, undoubtedly, the industry in Lithuania will need some time to recover from the devastating economic hit brought by the pandemic.