In the Netherlands and state-owned casino operator Holland Casino has released its financial results for 2020 showing that it experienced a loss of €80.7 million ($97 million) owing to restrictions associated with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The firm used an official Tuesday press release to detail that this figure represented a drop of 190% year-on-year as its gross income for the twelve months to the end of December fell by 54% to only €333 million ($400.5 million). The operator moreover explained that its 14 venues were free from coronavirus-related closures and constraints for just 71 days last year and saw aggregated visitations decline by 60% to 2.5 million.
First finish:
Holland Casino pronounced that it suffered in 2020 as its properties were closed for an almost 16-week period from March 13 owing to the initial appearance of the coronavirus pandemic in the Netherlands. It disclosed that the subsequent re-opening of these venues brought with it a range of new social distancing and maximum capacity restrictions in addition to midnight curfews and a directive that increased the distance between individual slot machines and gaming tables.
Subsequent shutterings:
The operator revealed that this state of affairs was made all the worse after rising infection rates prompted the government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte to institute a nationwide two-week shutdown in early-November. Holland Casino asserted that its venues had then been open for only a month when a third temporary closure order was implemented before being extended several times to leave all of its casinos still waiting to re-open.
Postponed payments:
However, Holland Casino divulged that it did receive some support as officials deferred all but €18.6 million ($22.3 million) of the €93.5 million ($112.5 million) it had been due to pay in annual gambling taxes. It stated that moves such as this allowed it to maintain a ‘robust liquidity position’ despite having not operated for a total of 143 days.
Profound plunge:
Erwin Van Lambaart serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Amsterdam-headquartered Holland Casino and he described last year as ‘the deepest trough’ his firm has ever experienced before going on to assert that it nevertheless remains ‘financially robust with a solid liquidity position.’ The boss moreover stated that his enterprise will continue to ‘invest strategically’ so as to safeguard its future including online by preparing to enter the nation’s coming regulated iGaming market.
Read a statement from Van Lambaart…
“Despite the constantly changing circumstances and major challenges that this crisis year caused, I firmly believe that we will get through it well. This is due to the resilience of our people, general government support measures, focus on cost control and a clear strategic investment vision for the future. Together, this has meant that we were always able to anticipate the consequences of this crisis.”