A recent report by the American Gaming Association found that Americans likely wagered $1.39 billion legally on the Super Bowl this year, up from $1.25 billion the year before.
A quick caveat on that figure: That estimate excludes casual and “extra-legal” wagering and only represents a fraction of the total amount of money that Americans put on the line. (Part of the reason Goldman Sachs expects the addressable U.S. online wagering market to grow to $45 billion when the market is fully mature.)
Even so, that figure is only expected to grow, with some industry insiders calling for a decade straight of “most-bet” Super Bowls as the sportsbooks duke it out for a bigger and bigger market share.
Learn More
Learn More
Learn More
Learn More
With that in mind, we wanted to break down the sportsbook stocks in a manner most befitting the gridiron: a power ranking. Unlike the NFL, where only one team can hoist the Lombardi Trophy, there are likely to be two winners among sportsbook stocks, while a handful of others battle in the trenches for, perhaps charitably, “three yards and a cloud of dust.”
The Sportsbook Stocks Power Ranking
The Contenders
The match-up between our top two sportsbook stock contenders is unlikely to end so definitively as the Eagles’ romp over the Chiefs, but for the foreseeable future, it’s DraftKings (DKNG) vs. Flutter’s (FLUT) FanDuel.
Both Flutter and DraftKings have been duking it out to seize market share, offering outsized bonuses for new users, free bets and the like, with the assumption that once they’ve laid claim to a user, they’ll be able to effectively monetize them in the years ahead.
As a result, the two companies are both regularly in contention for the top spot, although FanDuel currently owns the title.
As a result, Flutter reported U.S. revenue growth of 51% in its most recent quarter, which is leading some analysts to expect as much as 400% earnings growth by 2028.
But DraftKings is hot on their heels, with the stock rising more than 10% on Friday after the company reported slightly higher-than-expected earnings and raised the lower end of its 2025 revenue forecast.
Friday’s bump has helped lift DKNG 18% in the last year while FLUT is up 41% in the same period.
These two sportsbook stocks are likely to be the perennial favorites, much like the Chiefs and Eagles.
The Also-Rans
Aside from DKNG and FLUT, the field of sportsbook stocks is made up largely of casino/resort operators that happen to have an online betting component: Caesars (CZR) calls their segment “digital,” PENN Entertainment (PENN) calls theirs “interactive,” while MGM Resorts (MGM) cuts to the chase and just calls their segment “BetMGM.”
None of those segments are major profit drivers for the companies, and BetMGM, which is the third-largest operator behind FanDuel and DraftKings with an 8.1% market share, has been losing share over the past year.
With market share harder to gain, these companies still seem to be fighting a “land grab” battle they may have already lost.
Caesars’ digital segment is a good case in point: Its revenue grew from $215 million in Q3 2023 to $303 million in Q3 2024, but that translated to a de minimis ($11 million) net income for the segment.
Although that’s still meaningful progress given that the first three quarters of 2024 have produced a $19 million loss from the segment.
PENN Entertainment’s interactive segment, on the other hand, lost $390 million in the first three quarters of 2024, up from a loss of $69 million the year before.
As for the stocks, PENN is up 1.6% in the last year and Caesars is down 7.2% in the same period, while MGM has fallen 6.7%.
If you want a piece of the growing online sportsbook market, my bet is on the contenders; leave the also-rans on the bench.
Sign up now!
Sign up now!
Sign up now!
Sign up now!
*This post has been updated from a previously published version.
