It was just a few short years ago that land-based casinos were doing a booming box office business, and free online casinos were something that hardly made a blip on the industry’s radar screen  Oh, what a difference a few years and a global recession make!  One of the great false premises of the land-based casino industry was that it was recession-proof.  The powerful casino magnates also believed that their base customers would always travel to the casinos, no matter the economic conditions of the times. 

Unfortunately for the land-based casino industry, this was a false premise, and the industry and the casino towns, based on their draw, are on life-support in many places around the world.  You need to go no farther than Atlantic City, New Jersey , to witness the debilitating effects of the economic recession on the gambling town of Atlantic City and the casinos within its confines.

It was only a couple of years ago that the boardwalk strip in A.C. was brimming with people gambling in its five boardwalk casinos and doing a fabulous retail business on the strip.  Caesar’s built a mini-mall of upscale stores to cater to the high-end customers, while the Borgata opened its plush casino about two miles away and received rave reviews.

Today, the opulence of a few years ago in A.C. is just a distant memory.  The construction in the city has stopped, and so has the unmistakable buzz of excitement you could always ascertain on the boardwalk.  When you enter these casinos, you are shocked to see rows upon rows of slot machines empty, something unheard of since Resorts opened its doors as the first casino in A.C. in 1978.  The industry could always depend upon day-tripping retirees who would come and play for a few hours daily.  This, too, has proven not to be recession-proof as these folks, hampered by a lack of cost of living increases to their Social Security payments, have stayed away in droves.

The industry that has benefitted from the severe slouch in revenues in land-based casinos is the online casino industry.  It just makes perfect sense for people to save money and play in the comfort of their homes.  While A.C. casinos, such as Trump Plaza , show a decrease in revenues around 25%, the online casino industry, buoyed by free online casino parlours, have more than picked up the slack.  There are thousands of new players joining the online casino family of players each month, and many of them prefer to engage predominately in free online casino play.

These players appreciate the comfort and convenience of playing in their own homes at any time of the day or night for as long as they wish, without it costing them any monetary investment whatsoever.  So, as the land-based casinos continue to crash and splinter, the free online casino parlours are more than happy to pick up the pieces of their customer base.