Regional gaming operators, media firms biggest beneficiaries of legalized sports gambling - MS

Atlanta Braves Holdings

15/05/2018 10:02

** Morgan Stanley says that the court's decision is slightly
positive for regional gaming stocks; however, earnings upside is
relatively limited
    ** U.S. Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for the United
States to legalize sports gambling  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1SL0N0
    ** Research firm, GamblingCompliance's 2025 base case
implies sports betting would represent less than 2 pct of U.S.
gaming revenue, and bullish case implies 5 pct
    ** MS says marketing costs may be elevated as companies try
to consolidate market share early, however, on the positive
side, capital investment to set up the hardware is very low
   ** Regional operators such as Boyd Gaming  BYD.N  (rating:
equal-weight) and Penn National Gaming  PENN.O  (rating:
equal-weight) are the biggest beneficiaries of legalized sports
betting
    ** Also, online gaming companies typically spend 20-30 pct
of sales on marketing and so TV networks and sports leagues to
be beneficiaries, says MS
    ** Sees sports betting potentially benefiting media
companies including sports team and rights owners such as
Liberty Media Corp  FWONK.O , Liberty Braves Group  BATRK.O ,
Madison Square Garden Co  MSG.N , MSG Networks Inc  MSGN.N  and
Walt Disney  DIS.N 

 (Reporting by Jasmine I S in Bengaluru)
 ((RM: jasmine.is.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))