Jay Snowden, the Chief Executive Officer at Penn National Gaming, recently informed CNBC that the economic consequences of the coronavirus could speed up sports betting legislation.
According to Snowden, this legislation process that is happening at the state level stands to accelerate, and they really think they will benefit from that because they operate in more states than any gaming company in the world.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, told CNBC last month that states across the U.S. are facing significant revenue shortfalls as lockdown orders, meant to slow the spread of Covid-19, sharply reduce both income taxes and sales taxes. He also said that revenues have ‘fallen off a table’ due to the coronavirus.
California is predicting that there will be a budget shortfall of $54.3 billion due to the coronavirus, while states such as Wisconsin, Colorado and Ohio have already reported immediate spending cuts to conquer lost revenue.
Jason Robins, Chief Executive Office at DraftKings, last month told CNBC that he believes state officials were rightfully focusing their time on how to immediately respond to the public health crises. He also suggested there ‘could be more openness’ to legalizing sports betting down the road.
Snowden went on to say that the temporary pause on major U.S. sports leagues has also had an impact on the amount of sports betting and, by extension, the revenues states generate from it. He added that Penn National Gaming has seen a ‘significant’ impact as there really is no sports betting business to be had right now with no live sports.