While the Q2 earnings season commenced last week, it will begin in earnest for gaming stocks this week. Las Vegas Sands, Boyd Gaming, and Monarch Casinos are among the leading companies scheduled to report their quarterly earnings this week.
Meanwhile, the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF, which invests in a basket of gaming companies, fell 1.6% last week, which was in line with the S&P 500 Index. The Star Entertainment Group and Bally’s Corporation were among the major gainers last week, while Bragg Gaming Group and Robinhood were the biggest losers.
Major Gainers
The Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) +10%
The Star Entertainment Group was the biggest gainer in our coverage of gaming stocks last week and the only name to see a double-digit gain. There wasn’t any major announcement from the company, and the rise appears to be a technical rebound and short-covering following weakness in recent months. Notably, despite last week’s gains, Star shares are down almost 39% for the year.
The company has a stretched balance sheet and has been taking several measures to address the debt situation. Earlier this year, it completed the sale of its 50% stake in the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane project to its partners, Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium.
Subsequently, in June, Star finalized a vital $390 million (around AUD 540 million) debt facility with WhiteHawk Capital Partners to avoid a near-term liquidity collapse.
With US-based Bally’s Corporation and the Bruce Mathieson family holding massive combined stakes in the company, the stock is seen as a highly speculative turnaround play backed by deep-pocket gaming heavyweights.
Moreover, Australia-based gaming companies have been in focus after Betr Entertainment announced earlier this month that it was shifting its core corporate and operational headquarters from the Northern Territory to Tasmania, which has more favorable regulations for the industry.
Bally’s Corporation (NYSE: BALY) +9.08%
Bally’s Corporation rose over 9% last week, which helped bridge the stock’s year-to-date (YTD) losses to just under 15%. Notably, it was a reversal of fortunes for the stock, as it was on the list of biggest losers in the preceding week. BALY stock was looking oversold after the recent pullback, and last week’s rebound looks like bottom-fishing in this beaten-down name.
The company is simultaneously funding massive long-term developments, including:
- The $1.7 billion permanent riverfront casino in Chicago (slated for 2027).
- The $4 billion Bally’s Bronx resort in New York required a hefty $500 million statutory gaming license fee earlier this year.
These investments have increased BALY’s debt pile, and last month Fitch lowered its outlook on the company from “stable” to “negative” while affirming its credit rating.
Light & Wonder Inc (ASX: LNW) +5.26%
Light & Wonder rose over 5% last week after the company announced on Monday that it is on track to meet its 2026 guidance that calls for mid-to-high single-digit consolidated growth in its adjusted EBITDA. The management also reiterated its commitment to deleverage its balance sheet and expects its net debt leverage ratio to be towards the mid-range of its target range this year and subsequently fall below 3x during the first half of the next year.
LNW also announced that it repurchased over 1.6 million CHS (CHESS Depositary Interests) worth $134 million in Q2. It still has around $180 million in repurchasing authorization remaining under the current plan.
Biggest Losers
Bragg Gaming Group (NYSE: BRAG) -15.42%
With a loss of over 15%, Bragg Gaming was the biggest loser in our coverage of gaming stocks last week. Notably, the stock had risen by a similar quantum in the preceding week after the company announced a comprehensive set of operational and organizational measures, which included reducing its global workforce by approximately 19%.
The company expects these measures to lead to annualized cost savings of €6 million, which is incremental to an earlier restructuring effort announced in January, which already targeted €4.5 million in annualized savings.
However, while the announcement of these measures initially led to a rally, these gains eventually fizzled last week amid broader market weakness.
Robinhood Markets (NYSE: HOOD) -10.73%
Robinhood continued its volatile run this year, alternating between the week’s top gainers and losers, falling by over 10% last week. Last week’s losses came amid the risk-off sentiment that hit high-beta fintech and tech growth names harder than defensive sectors. Notably, while Robinhood has been diversifying away from its crypto and stock trading business and betting on prediction markets to drive the next leg of its growth, the bulk of its profits still come from crypto and equity trading. Therefore, the stock tends to see sell-offs in periods coinciding with periods of weakness in stocks and cryptocurrencies, as we saw last week.
Moreover, there was some profit booking in HOOD after the stock followed the stellar gains earlier this month after the deployment of Robinhood Chain. Built as an Ethereum Layer 2 network utilizing Arbitrum technology, it aims to serve as an institutional-grade framework for on-chain financial services.
The company also announced several new initiatives, including Robinhood Earn, its decentralized lending product, and new stock tokens, which enable around-the-clock trading directly on the Robinhood Chain.
However, while these measures would help drive long-term value, investors seem to have booked profits ahead of the company’s Q2 earnings later this month.
Betr Entertainment (ASX: BBT) -7.89%
Betr Entertainment, which was among the major gainers in the preceding week, fell nearly 8% last week in what looks like a profit-taking exercise. Moreover, Betr Entertainment is a micro-cap stock with a market capitalization below AUD 200 million, which makes it prone to wild price swings. Incidentally, on Friday, trading volume was unusually low (only about 15,500 shares traded hands, compared with its historical average of over 850,000). In low-liquidity environments, even a tiny number of sell orders can cause an exaggerated drop in the share price, something we saw with BBT on that day, with shares falling by over 5%.
Major Gaming Industry Developments Last Week
On the regulatory front, last week Evolution agreed to pay a £4.75 million ($6.4 million) settlement to the UK Gambling Commission for supplying unlicensed operators with its game content.
In a major tech-compliance development last week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the region’s top court, ruled that YouTube may lose its legal “liability shield” for partnered gambling channels, increasing pressure on video platforms to police unauthorized gambling content.
Stateside, DraftKings launched a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia following a local consumer protection investigation into the company’s sportsbook and casino operations. “The city has acted beyond the scope of its authority on matters governed by state law and regulated by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board,” said a DraftKings spokesperson.
Prediction Market Developments
Talking of prediction markets, the regulatory uncertainty is far from over, and Ingham County, Michigan, Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina extended the temporary ban on Kalshi sports contracts. The judge gave Kalshi until August 12 to enforce geo-blocking solutions. Failure to comply after this deadline will result in fines of $0.5 million per day.
Despite the regulatory uncertainty, prediction markets continue to gain traction. In yet another validation for the sector, OpenAI struck a deal with Kalshi and is embedding Kalshi’s real-time probability data (like World Cup match forecasts) directly into its ChatGPT search results. However, OpenAI noted that the data is for informational purposes only and that users cannot place bets on the platform.
The FIFA World Cup turned out to be a bumper event for prediction markets and according to Kalshi it added 3 million new members during the event. Speaking with CNBC, the company said that $1.2 billion was traded on its platform betting on the World Cup winner, which was a record for a singular event. H2 Gambling Capital estimates that the share of prediction markets in overall legal sports betting volumes in the U.S. swelled to 27% during the World Cup, which is four times its level at the beginning of the year.
However, as prediction markets continue to evolve, they have their share of issues, particularly regarding insider trading. Last week, Federal regulators revealed that President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator allegedly made tens of thousands of dollars leveraging insider knowledge to place bets on the president’s speeches.
In what has raised concerns over insider trading, Trump Media will sell Wall Street firms quicker access to influential Truth Social posts, including those of President Trump, through a newly launched Truth API, of course, for a fee.
In a related note, Kalshi paused the rollout of flight cancellation contracts following immediate backlash and concerns that bad actors might intentionally disrupt airports to force payouts.
Meanwhile, insider trading is not confined to prediction markets; other markets are also prone to such scandals. For instance, last week, the NFL issued an indefinite suspension to the Arizona Cardinals’ scouting director for violating the league’s gambling policy. The executive allegedly bet on games and leaked inside information regarding draft picks.
Gaming Earnings to Watch This Week
Monarch Casinos will release its Q2 earnings today, after the close of the markets. The stock is heading into the confessional with a YTD gain of 28%. Analysts expect the company’s revenues to rise 3.9% in the quarter while its adjusted EPS is expected to rise 13.1%.
Las Vegas Sands has scheduled its Q2 earnings for July 22. The stock is down over 30% for the year amid concerns about the Las Vegas casino sector. While analysts expect the company’s revenues to rise 4.7% in the June quarter, they are modeling a 3.6% year-over-year decline in its adjusted EPS.
Boyd Gaming will release its Q2 earnings on July 23 after the close of the markets. Analysts expect its revenues and adjusted EPS to be similar to the corresponding quarter last year.
The post Key Gaming Stocks to Watch This Week as Q2 Earnings Season Begins appeared first on CasinoBeats.
While the Q2 earnings season commenced last week, it will begin in earnest for gaming stocks this week. Las Vegas Sands, Boyd Gaming, and Monarch Casinos are among the leading companies scheduled to report their quarterly earnings this week. Meanwhile, the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF, which invests in a basket of gaming companies,
The post Key Gaming Stocks to Watch This Week as Q2 Earnings Season Begins appeared first on CasinoBeats.