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Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018, sports-betting companies have jumped in popularity.
As of the end of February 2022, 30 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. now offer some form of legalized sports wagering, according to the latest tally from the American Gaming Association. And New York recently set the monthly sports betting record of $1.6 billion wagered in just three weeks.
Several sports-betting operators are also publicly traded companies, and some include non-sports betting assets in their business portfolios, such as casinos or entertainment properties.
This is how those sports-betting stocks performed in February:
DraftKings
Shares of DraftKings Inc.
DKNG,
increased 6.61% during February, while the S&P 500
SPX,
was down 3.12% over the same period.
DraftKings confirmed that it paid out more than $175 million in Super Bowl bets this February, as this year’s Super Bowl was the most bet on in the history of American sports. But the company would not specify exactly how much was bet on their sportsbook for the big game.
DraftKings’ latest earnings report came with significant revenue growth of 46.9% to $473.3 million, but its quarterly loss widened year-over-year. Sales and marketing costs rose 45.1% from a year ago, and part of those losses may be related to increased marketing and spending in New York, which is a new player among states with legalized betting.
The company’s CEO has been pushing for more states to legalize sports betting, even going so far as to say that the resulting tax revenue could help end homelessness.
“Legal online sports betting is projected to bring hundreds of millions in tax revenue annually to the state to address two of the state’s most pressing issues: homelessness and mental health,” said DraftKings CEO Jason Robins.
Robins’s total compensation for 2021 topped $14 million in 2021, a 94% drop from a year ago.
See also: Bitcoin, ethereum — here’s how crypto prices changed in February
DraftKings is now accepting mobile sports bets in New York, and helped the Empire State beat the monthly sports betting record in just three weeks, according to PlayNY. New York bettors placed $1.6 billion worth of bets between Jan. 8-30, the most all time for a single month of any U.S. state.
DraftKings is down 63.26% over the past 12 months.
Caesars
Shares of Caesars Entertainment Inc.
CZR,
jumped 10.51% in February.
Like DraftKings, Caesars was one of the approved sportsbooks in New York state that began accepting mobile sports wagering last month. And Caesars took in more sports betting handle (total money bet) in New York than any other sportsbook, according to the New York state Gaming Commission.
Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said the company is planning to cut ad spending on sports betting.
“You are going to see us dramatically curtail our traditional media spend effective immediately. We have accomplished what we set out to do. We set out to become a significant player, and it’s happened significantly quicker than we thought,” he said on an earnings call. Traditional media spend will be reserved primarily for new launch states, Reeg added.
Caesars is down 15.64% over the past 12 months.
Penn National
Shares of Penn National Gaming Inc.
PENN,
increased 11.82% in February.
Penn recently disclosed that its 2021 workforce grew by roughly 20% year-over-year, but was still about 22% below 2019 levels.
Craig Hallum Capital analyst Ryan Sigdahl thinks the stock price should be much higher.
“The retail casinos are performing very well,” Sigdahl told Barron’s, referring to a 13% increase in same-store revenue despite the pandemic still being somewhat of a factor in casinos.
Penn was not one of the approved sports betting operators for New York state, but could reapply for a license in the future.
Other sports betting news
Wynn Resorts Ltd.
WYNN,
agreed to sell the land and real-estate assets it owns at Encore Boston Harbor to Realty Income
O,
for $1.7 billion. But Wynn will continue to operate the property.
Flutter-owned
FLTR,
FanDuel was the No. 2 sportsbook in New York state during its first legal month of online betting, according to PlayNY.
