US President Donald Trump has banned all travel from mainland Europe to the US for at least 30 days, and Denmark has followed Italy into lockdown, in response to the global COVID-19 virus crisis.

Europe-US travel shutdown

In an address to the nation from the Oval Office, Trump blamed European countries for not acting quickly enough to stop the COVID-19 (coronavirus) spread, and ordered a suspension of all flights from mainland Europe, effective from midnight on Friday, Eastern Standard Time.

Flights to and from the UK and Ireland are not affected at the moment. Although British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make an important announcement later this morning, which could well include travel bans from the UK to Europe – cutting off European’s only realistic route into the US.

Denmark follows Italy into lockdown

Meanwhile, overnight Denmark became the second European country to go into nationwide lockdown, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announcing the closure of all schools, universities and kindergartens, the banning of indoor events, sending non-critical public sector workers home, and asking private sector workers to work from home.

Borders start shutting within Europe

Elsewhere in Europe, on Wednesday Malta took the unprecedented step of suspending flights to and from Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland (travel to and from Italy was banned on Monday). Austria and Slovenia have all but closed their borders with Italy, only allowing travel to those with a medical certificate. Switzerland has also closed many border crossings with Italy.

Poland has closed all schools, museum and cinemas, and Ukraine has ordered all educational establishments to shut in the capital Kiev.

Meanwhile, Belgium, Bulgaria and Albania have reported their first COVID-19 deaths.

We will keep you up to date with developments…

AYO.NEWS says:

While these lockdowns are catching most people off guard, the writing was on the wall for Europe back in January, when the Chinese authorities took such extreme measures to stop the spread of the virus, despite it crippling their economy. In fact, here at AYO.NEWS, we speculated that a global travel shutdown was likely as long ago as 29^th January (see GLOBAL TRAVEL LOCKDOWN IMMINENT?).

While, over the last few weeks, we’ve been covering individual gaming, esports, sporting and blockchain industry events that have been postponed or cancelled, we must now surely assume EVERY event, at least in Europe, North America and Asia, is going to be affected.

Considering the virus is now spreading everywhere from Iceland to Qatar and everywhere in-between, we must now also accept that the onset of warm temperatures in summer is unlikely to stop it. Hence, those organisers who’ve merely postponed their events for a month or so, should very seriously consider indefinite postponement.

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SiGMA Group has postponed the iGathering event scheduled to be held in Malta on 25^th March 2020 due to the escalating COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis.

The group said that, following the WHO’s declaration of a pandemic, it saw delaying the event as the “only responsible course of action to ensure the health and safety of exhibitors, attendees, and SiGMA staff, as well as preventing any possible further spread of the virus.”

According to SiGMA, the event was expected to see more than 400 “friends and leaders” from the iGaming and blockchain sectors come together to “celebrate the global expansion of the SiGMA and AIBC Summits.”

Currently the group says it expects to reschedule the event for late June, and will send confirmations of new dates and invitations in coming days.

AYO.NEWS says:

Considering Malta has now suspended flights to and from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Switzerland, and the US has suspended all flights to mainland Europe, this hardly needed to be announced anyway.

Given the trajectory of the crisis, and the fact that the virus is spreading in cold countries like Iceland, temperate regions like Germany, and hot countries like Qatar, expecting this to abate in summer is probably very misguided. Probably as misguided as expecting authorities in Europe and North America to get control of the situation without introducing extreme Chinese-style measures. Besides, many experts now openly say, they expect that as China lifts restrictions, the virus will probably re-establish itself (see Joe Rogan’s interview with Michael Osterholm below). 

SiGMA should probably hold off sending out those new invitations!  

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

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Online affiliate marketing company Raketech is acquiring gaming affiliate Lead Republik in a €1.6m deal.

Though registered in Malta, Lead Republik’s principal markets are Canada, New Zealand and Germany. The move is in line with Raketech’s aim of increasing non-Nordic revenue to around 20% of the group’s total.

In addition to the initial fee, the acquisition may result in further performance-based payments.

Discussing the news CEO of Raketech, Oskar Mühlbach, said:

“This acquisition is ticking a lot of strategic boxes, as it gives us further footprint in markets important for our key partners, at the same time as it contributes with technical know-how in the form of a high-qualitative technical platform, together with competence within conversion optimisation and paid media.

“I am furthermore really glad to have the brilliant Lead Republik team on board and to be able to conclude that the sellers will continue their involvement for the upcoming 12 months to secure a smooth handover and accelerate further expansion into new markets.”

In large part thanks to a  “particularly tough” Swedish market Raketech reported revenue of €5.8m for 2019, a fall of 23% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA came in at €2m, a plunge of 56%.

AYO.NEWS says:

While not exactly the biggest acquisition, it does demonstrate Raketech has learned that the Nordic markets, especially Sweden, aren’t what they used to be. We expect to see more non-Nordic acquisitions from affiliate company’s as they pivot towards North America, Asia, Oceania and other emerging markets.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

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Malta, the iGaming and blockchain hub of Europe, has banned all flights to and from Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland with immediate effect.

Additionally, all people returning from affected countries will be required to self-quarantine of face a €1,000 fine.

The Mediterranean island nation had already banned all travel to and from neighbouring Italy, but now finds itself worryingly isolated from mainland Europe.

Needless to say, this latest move is probably too late to stop widespread infection in Malta itself, given that six cases have already been confirmed.

Earlier today, we reported SBC Events had postponed CasinoBeats Malta due to the crisis.

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Yes, you read that right; a conference about the coronavirus response has been cancelled… due to the coronavirus!

In addition to esports, gaming and blockchain events and conferences being cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis, even coronavirus conferences are being cancelled.

According to the Daily Mail, a roundtable called “Doing Business Under Coronavirus”, scheduled for New York on Friday, has been cancelled after an explosion of confirmed infections in New York.

Indeed, America’s first “Containment Zone” has been established in the suburb of New Rochelle, just a few miles from Manhattan, with National Guard troops helping to manage a one-mile wide containment area.

Apparently, the Council on Foreign Relations had planned the events to help businesses mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 virus crisis. Other similar events in Washington and elsewhere across the United States have also been cancelled due to the rapidly deteriorating situation.

AYO.NEWS says:

Just an hour ago we reported Riot Games had postponed the League of Legends 2020 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) due to the rapidly worsening COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis. Despite the situation in New York however, Esports Insider says ESI New York is still expected to go ahead on 27-28 April.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

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SBC Events has postponed two of its international gambling conferences in response to the growing COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis.

Gaming conference and exhibition CasinoBeats Malta, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Malta, has been pushed back to 22-24 June 2020.

Betting on Sports America, at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, has been moved to 1-3 December 2020.

In an official statement, SBC Events said:

“While the global COVID-19 situation evolves and the official advice and restrictions concerning travel and public gatherings continue to change, we feel we have no alternative but to postpone both events until later in the year.

“The changing situation and the fact that an increasing number of industry organisations are introducing their own travel bans for staff, means that both CasinoBeats Malta and Betting on Sports America would have been severely impacted had we not made the decision to postpone them until later in the year.”

Tickets will be automatically changed to the new dates, and delegates can contact SBC Events at events@sbcgaming.com with any questions.

Betting on Sports Europe, scheduled to be held at Stamford Bridge, London, from 2-4 June 2020 is still slated to go ahead.

AYO.NEWS says:

Given the trajectory of the crisis, and the fact that many experts are now expecting the pandemic to last many months, and maybe not even peak until winter, we’d say rescheduling events to June is being more than a little optimistic!

Just yesterday EA postponed or cancelled several esports events, while Malta banned all travel to and from Italy, axing flights and passenger ferry services.

With the situation developing so rapidly, AYO.NEWS will be keeping you up to date with what you need to know.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.