Down turn in economy vs Sin trade

I wonder how the current economic conditions are affecting the gambling industry.  Are gambling businesses suffering as a result of people having less expendable income every month?  But then they say that the sin trade does well during a recession.  This is a case of a down turn in economy vs sin trade.

When times are tough people have less money for travel, leisure and entertainment.  The sin trade always prospers in a recession – cigarettes, alcohol and gambling do well.  People will still gamble, they may just change their habits and instead of flying to Vegas, they may use online gambling more.

Las Vegas casino groups have released some of their financial results and it seems that profits are down.  As they try to reduce prices to attract customers, then their margins be squeezed.  So I suppose they are walking a tight rope between dropping prices and getting more gamblers through the door against keeping their pricing higher and getting better margin.  Tricky one!

I suppose it depends on how long the recession goes on for, because if it starts to turn quickly then those with higher pricing will prosper more as the number of gamblers increase.  However, if you drop prices one of the toughest things to do is raise them again, so when the economy turns you will struggle to raise prices.  Then again if you keep prices high, no-one may come through your door.

Looks like we’re in for a long tough ride before we get out of these stormy waters!