SiGMA has announced its flagship European igaming show is set to go ahead in Malta between 13-15 April 2021. 

According to SiGMA, the show can now go ahead because the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has approved a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Founder of SiGMA Group, Eman Pulis, said:

“The early release of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine makes us hopeful that a sense of normality will now resume within the next four months. Our recent Virtual expo was a huge success, but we hope to now continue building these relationships in person as we launch into what looks set to be a very exciting year.”

Echoing Pulis’ optimism, Malta’s Minister for the Economy, Silvio Schembri, has also expressed confidence that the country’s economy will get back on track, and even experience growth next year. 

SiGMA’s digital events for the Latin American and Asian markets will still go ahead in 2021, along with summits focused on the MedTech and MedCann industries. 

AYO.NEWS says:

While we very much hope Pulis and Schembri’s optimism is founded, we can’t help but think that April might be pushing it. 

Of course, it is absolutely true that UK regulators have approved one vaccine, and there are plans to start giving it to key workers and the most vulnerable before the end of the year, but the consensus seems to be that it will take many months before anything like normality can return. It should also be noted that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has only been approved in the UK so far, and questions have been raised about its effectiveness and the thoroughness of the approval process – not least by Anthony Fauci in the US, and experts in several European countries. 

Also, as the UK government has made clear, even with the army setting up vaccination centres across the country, the vaccine will be in very limited supply for some time, and there will be a strict pecking order, with only the most vulnerable and key workers getting it first (and, as far as we’re aware, igaming professionals aren’t defined as ‘key workers’). As many experts have pointed out, even when the vaccine becomes available in large quantities, social distancing, lockdowns, and travel controls may still be needed for many months, to bring COVID-19 under control. 

And, its worth bearing in mind that, even if the vaccine proves miraculously effective on its own at dealing with the specific strain it was designed for, there are multiple strains already in circulation, and the virus is still mutating – meaning any vaccine could be rendered useless very quickly (which explains the mink culling in Denmark and elsewhere). 

So, while we very much hope for a return to normality, to believe the world, or even just Europe, will be back at the point where people can be jetting off and meeting for large in-person events by April, is looking a tad over optimistic to say the least. 

But hey, if 2020 has taught us one thing, it’s that anything can happen!

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