Sports Betting Stock News – Why Some Are in the Tank

A bevy of top companies in the sports betting space, headlined by DraftKings, ended 2021 near 52-week lows as losses for some of the companies accelerated in December.

The continued sell-off presents a buying opportunity for bullish investors in the nascent U.S. sports betting industry, with several prominent states in line to legalize sports wagering in 2022. At the same time, the slump among top gaming stocks gave short-sellers another chance to thump their chests in December.

DraftKings ended the year as one of the most heavily shorted stocks on the market, as concerns about the company’s long-term profitability persist. As of Dec. 15, short interest in DraftKings topped $1.1 billion, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of Predictive Analytics at S3 Partners LLC. With more than 39 million shorted shares on Dec. 13, the company set fresh record highs for short interest as percentage of float, Dusaniwsky told Sports Handle

More on the latest Sports Betting Stock News

Goldman Sachs Raises Penn National’s Stock Target by Almost $40 a Share

Fresh off mobile launches in Michigan and Virginia, gambling analysts on Tuesday gave another vote of confidence to publicly traded sports betting companies.

Goldman Sachs upgraded DraftKings to a buy with a $65 price target and reiterated Penn as a buy with a growing price target from $86 to $124 a share.

As of 12:30pm ET, DraftKings was up seven percent on the day to $54.90, while Penn was down 1.8 percent to $102.12.

The DraftKings upgrade was based on what the analysts said was a market leader position and “ability to participate in the economics of single operator states.” DraftKings, for example, runs sports betting in New Hampshire through its contract with the state lottery…

DFS Site DraftKings Went Public on Friday

DraftKings began trading Friday morning on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol DKNG. DraftKings’ debut as a publicly listed company came one day after it completed a business combination with SBTech and Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. (DEAC), a special-purpose acquisition company.

Under the deal, DraftKings becomes the first vertically integrated, pure-play sports betting and online gaming company based in the United States with full control of its back-end technology and trading platform.

“By bringing together our leading consumer brand, data science expertise and industry-leading products with SBTech’s proven techno

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): Is it gambling?

A Game of Skill or Gambling?

Some states, such as Nevada recently banned sites like fantasy sports website DraftKings after accusations surfaced of employees participating in the contests with insider information. Some believe the websites should be regulated like gambling websites.

Source: Daily fantasy sports: Is it gambling?

DraftKings, FanDuel May Have to Return Money to New York Players

Sports betting New York attorney general sues to get DraftKings, FanDuel to return money New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (pronounced SHNEYE’-dur-muhn) is turning up the heat on a pair of daily fantasy sports websites.
Officials confirm Schneiderman filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking that FanDuel and DraftKings give back all the money the sites made in New York state.… [Read more…]

Skill or Chance? Courts Divided on Fantasy

Skill or Chance fantasy sports

DALLAS – DEC 14: Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo waits for the snap from the center.

Hours after a New York lower court ordered the continent’s two largest fantasy sports operators to shut down last Friday, an appeals court stayed the decision, allowing DraftKings and FanDuel to keep taking bets in their most lucrative market.

Neither the emergency appeal by DraftKings, which argued even a temporary shutdown would do “irreparable harm,” nor… [Read more…]

Are DraftKings, FanDuel Games of Skill or Chance?

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New York became the latest state to crack down on online sports fantasy sites DraftKings and FanDuel Tuesday when it declared the games illegal in New York. Fantasy sports played for money are already illegal in five states, but Tuesday’s decision may be the biggest yet because New York has the most daily fantasy players, according… [Read more…]

New York A.G. Inquiry into Fantasy Sports Industry

Las Vegas sportsbook contest NEW YORK — Amid reports that employees of two of the industry’s largest sites may have benefited financially from inside information, the attorney general for the state of New York Tuesday launched an inquiry into fantasy football, The New York Times reported. The attorney general has asked for internal data from DraftKings and FanDuel, two sites… [Read more…]