The Spiel
By Ricki Chavez-Munoz
As economists and analysts continue to work on the aftermath of COVID-19, there will be some industries that will never see recovery to the levels before this universal watershed, that sees people self-exclude not just following governmental orders or advice, but because it is really dangerous out there.
We are living a real time disaster movie on epic proportions like nothing that even the great Cecil B De Mille ever dreamt of producing. There are people who are really counting the Coronavirus pandemic to be the equivalent of one of the “Seven Plagues of Egypt.” One expects that scholars are relating this Bible story of the plagues, when Egypt was practically “the world,” as the second or third plague to fall upon this poor unsuspecting planet since the 20th century if we count the Spanish Flu and Aids as two of them to have befallen us already.
Speaking to an economist, the question of government bail outs came about, as the US Senate was poised to give away billions of dollars to some truly deserving industries, and other billions as well to “friends and relations,” as the usual lobbying industry army got wind of a wishy-washy government seeking to favour its economic backers.
The question was not about who would be footing the bill, because it will be you and me, but about the identity of the charitable lenders who have been bailing out our countries the world over ever since – the Napoleonic wars included – and amassing more fortunes in the name of Liberty.
By the end of World War II Britain had amassed an immense debt of £21 billion (equivalent to £336 billion), most of which was held in foreign hands, including creditors in the United States and Canada.
Most people do not know who the friendly lenders were, and now it is only fair to ask who are the charitable firms or people funding countries the world over in order to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and will benefit from repayment of the loans by the governments. In other words, we want to know to whom we are mortgaging our children’s heritage!
However, as there are few who will lend funds to the gaming industry only the strong will survive along with online businesses everywhere. Las Vegas will feel the impact mostly, as hotels will struggle to fill in Coronavirus aftermath, countries and city destinations marketing their properties for locals so that they stay, local.
February numbers for Pennsylvania’s retail and online sportsbooks business has seen revenues breeze past the US$2bn mark in wagers since the state’s legalization of sports betting, joining New Jersey and Nevada in passing such threshold.
Still, it’s early days, but the tell-tale signs are there. Not only are people not travelling to Las Vegas but as the pandemic grips states like New York and California we see that local pubs in Las Vegas that cater for the local neighbourhood have also closed, and some of them will never open again.
Such fate will befall operations the world over, and there are already screams from Dominican Republic sports betting bookies, known as “bancas”, where most of the 1800 will surely close before the year is out.
While Colombian operators ask the Government for economic support, the least that they might get is a small moratorium on tax payments, like everyone else. However, governments need tax receipts to function and indeed service the debts incurred during the coronavirus plague.
And as the vicious debt circle strangles economies, all we can do is soldier on and try to fend off any other plague that waits around the corner. Some say that one of those plagues is already upon us – the massive debts that we’ll bear like Atlas with the world on his shoulders.
