Betting companies, tourism actors counting losses due to coronavirus
Uganda, according to the Ministry of Health, has no confirmed cases of the Coronavirus until now but the economic fallout from the virus is becoming clearer now with several businesses feeling the pinch. Betting companies have not been spared either.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the worldwide sporting calendar with all the major leagues in Europe and elsewhere suspended until further notice.
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Reuben Robert, the operations director at BetOn Uganda told Nile Post, that while the work-from-home concept has driven a surge in online betting, the cancelation of events to bet on has been an unforeseen blow to the operators.
Luckily for them, BetOn was already ahead of the curve when they invested in brand new gaming platforms and extensive partnerships for non-sport-gaming and virtual games.
“In Uganda, we have been fielding extensive queries from our customers about alternatives to their usual sporting events and BetOn’s casino and virtual games have seen a flood of interest,” Reuben said.
Although Reuben said their customer numbers are a trade secret that they could not share with Nile Post, he admitted that they have faced a decline and although minimal, they feel the pinch.
“We have faced less than 3 percent decline. Margins on casino and virtual are much lower than sports betting, so the losses are there but we know its just temporary,” Reuben said.
BetOn Uganda is not the only betting firm that is feeling the pinch, other betting firms too who asked for anonymity to be able to talk to us are also stranded with many of them struggling to entertain their clients with virtual games.
Tourism sector affected most
Tourism is a fragile sector whose existence is based and focused on attracting numbers of people to its offers but the government as a way to contain the spread of the coronavirus has discouraged the same numbers.
Several cities and tourism destinations are currently under lockdown and airlines have discontinued flights to a number of countries that have been hit by the coronavirus.
According to statistics, the tourism sector in Uganda contributes to 7.7 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and about shs 6 trillion to the export earnings. This year, the government had predicted a 10 percent growth but the unforeseen virus has rendered this almost impossible.
Several tourists from foreign countries have already canceled and others postponed their scheduled trips, which has left the hotels, tour operators and game parks stranded on their next move.
The Tourism Operators Association’s Public Relations officer Jonathan Benaiah told Nile Post that they scheduled a meeting with the Uganda Tourism Board to find out how several operators have been affected by the crisis.
