It’s no news that COVID-19 is causing havoc on individuals, communities, companies and governments alike. Locally, the CBC reports an estimated loss of 821 000 jobs in Quebec and around the province, raising the unemployment level to above 17%. Globally it’s the same.

The International Labour Organisation, ILO, made a study of how COVID-19 has impacted jobs around the world covering 12 different industries and everything from agriculture to tourism and transport. The study does not cover the affiliation industry, something which Forbes Magazine did. MTL Times recently published an article about job security during COVID-19 where they referred to the Forbes article, concluding that the Affiliation industry is resilient to global pandemics.

Online gambling industry unaffected?

Another industry seemingly resilient to these situations is the online gambling industry.

Gambling is on the rise in Canada and around the world. This is confirmed by several major institutes, perhaps most recently in early May when ABACUS surveyed 1500 Canadians about their gambling habits. The short-hand version of the results is as follows:

• Roughly ¼ of Canadians gamble.
• 5% of Canadians say that, since the pandemic started, they’re gambling “more” or “much more”.
• 26% of regular gamblers say that, since the pandemic started, they’re gambling “more” or “much more”.
• The main gambling ports are online casinos and online sports betting. 56% of gamblers play on casinos online, 41% of gamblers bet on sports (the figures are independent of each other, some gamblers both play on casinos and bet on sports).

Similar statistics are found across the pond to the east. The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC), the governing body which regulates many online casinos in Canada and internationally, cross-analyzed studies made by Savanta and MyGov. The analysis concludes several findings from mental health issues to a rise in gambling due to COVID-19.

COVID-19 creating jobs?

One end of the spectrum is that people have less money but gamble more than before. The other end of the spectrum is the creation of jobs. Socially, the jobs created by gambling doesn’t make up for the moral issues arising from gambling, which it’s more important than ever for operators to implement safe gambling measures.

Looking at the jobs situation, affiliates and casinos are still employing. ResearchAndMarkets analyzed the quarterly reports of 25 of the biggest companies in the online gambling industry.

In the before-mentioned Forbes-article is also mentioned that the job-situation in the affiliation industry is stable. Some of the jobs found within these industries include Back-end and Front-end development, Full-stack programmers, UX designers and Graphic designers, Copywriters, Marketers, VIP managers, CRM, Customer support, YouTube streamers and Twitchers, Accountants and Financial Managers, SEO, Social Media managers, and much more.