The COVID-19 caused a worldwide shutdown. All people had to confine themselves to their homes, leaving no room for various outdoor activities. Sports competitions were cancelled in most countries of the world. It is in this context that people looked for new forms of leisure, leisure possible by staying at home.
Sports betting: big winners in the global pandemic
Thanks to their easy-to-use application or website, they have been able to win over new customers looking for new leisure activities in these periods. This development is especially marked among young people. In the space of one year, the share of 18 to 24 year old players has doubled. Young people, deprived of their freedom to go out, have been looking for a way out and have found it in online gambling.
However, this escape is very risky because the risks of addiction of this kind of application are very high. In addition, many young people who play this kind of application still live with their parents and therefore have no real idea of the money played or lost on such applications. In the last quarter of 2020, « the highest gaming volume in a quarter » was recorded, representing 1.6 billion euros.
Source : https://twitter.com/ANJ_FR
Digital as an alternative to gambling events
The players with the most appetite for the game really specialized in it. The organizers saw the magnitude that poker was taking and many tournaments were organized bringing together the best players in the world. In 1970, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was created, which can be described as the world poker championship.
The best players in the world compete for the title of poker champion, a title symbolized by a bracelet. The WSOP has been held every year since 1970 in Las Vegas. But problem is, in 2020, with the lockdowns, no one could move, let alone gather in a packed casino room. The WSOP, usually held in July, was postponed to September 2020 and organizers opted to hold online tournaments. Digital technology and the Internet prevented the event from being cancelled altogether.
Source : https://www.clubpoker.net/world-series-of-poker-online-wsop-com-ggpoker-main-main/n- 15445
But organizing this online event was not easy. Indeed, a lot of cyber security work had to be done, because of the astronomical amounts of money that were at stake, but also to avoid cheating or other malfunctions. The organizers had to reinvent themselves in order to offer players guaranteed gameplay and security so that the event would go smoothly and players would be reassured. However, there were still some technical problems, especially with the software, which impacted some tournaments. The impacted tournaments had to be postponed for a week to resolve these discrepancies.
