Penn National Gaming Grows In Indiana's Sports Betting Space

Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) is leaving no stone unturned to strengthen its foothold in Indiana’s sports betting scenario. Evidently, the company is likely to launch sports betting at Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg on Sep 1, 2019.

This apart, Penn National Gaming expects to begin offering sports betting at Ameristar Casino East Chicago, Indiana, on Sep 1, 2019. Already, it has started sports betting at Ameristar Casino Council Bluffs.

Penn National Gaming has also announced historic strategic partnerships with DraftKings, PointsBet, theScore and The Stars Group. Backed by these partnerships, the company is anticipated to expand sports betting and iGaming across 19 states. DraftKings will cover Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for 10 years.

A glimpse of this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock’s price trend reveals that it has declined 3.1% against the industry’s 4.2% growth.

However, we believe that Penn National Gaming, which shares space with Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) and Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) , will return to growth trajectory as sports betting is likely to be a major growth driver.

Bottom Line

In May 2018, the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that banned sports betting outside Nevada.

Legalization of sports betting outside Nevada has given the industry a new lease of life. Following the ruling, the scope for casino operators will grow as illegal sports betting is valued at billions of dollars, annually, in the United States.

In fact, we believe the company that operates in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia and other states is likely to gain the most from this ruling.

Currently, sports betting has been legalized in Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois and New Hampshire. Notably, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, Massachusetts. Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arizona and other states are also likely to tread the same path in the coming months.

Another Key Pick

Another stock, which warrants a look in the same space, is SciPlay Corporation (NASDAQ:SCPL) . The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

SciPlay’s second-quarter 2019 earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 200%.

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