3 Best Sports Betting Stocks in Light of Next Week's Super Bowl

Three years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports gambling and left it up to state governments. Many states have legalized sports betting or have begun the process of making it happen. 

That could mean some serious coin in your pocket if you live in one of the states that allows it — in the form of sports betting stocks. 

Since the Super Bowl is imminent (Rams vs. Bengals — next weekend, just in case you weren't aware), it's important to note that the NFL makes up nearly half of all sports bets placed in the U.S. The Super Bowl is the most popular betting opportunity each year.

Where is Sports Betting Legal in the U.S.?

Take a look at the list of states where sports betting is currently legal. As it spreads throughout the U.S., more opportunities may come to you to both, directly and indirectly, invest in sports betting.

Legal	Not Legal
Alabama	Alaska
Arizona	California
Arkansas	Georgia
Colorado	Hawaii
Connecticut	Idaho
Delaware	Kansas
Florida (though lawsuits in court have held up the sports betting ruling legalizing it)	Kentucky
Illinois	Maine
Indiana	Massachusetts
Iowa	Minnesota
Louisiana (though mobile betting isn't currently allowed)	Missouri
Maryland	North Dakota
Michigan	Oklahoma
Mississippi	South Carolina
Montana	Texas
	Utah
Nevada	Vermont
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota (though mobile betting isn't currently allowed)
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington
Washington, D.C.
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

3 Sports Betting Stocks to Consider Right Now

Ahead of the Super Bowl, consider these three stocks for purchase, especially if you're leery of directly betting yourself. Instead, why not invest in the companies that make money off of people who will gamble big money? Here's how you might want to play the game.

Penn National Gaming Inc. NASDAQ: PENN

Penn National Gaming Inc. owns and manages gaming and racing facilities and video gaming terminal operations for retail and online gaming, live racing and sports betting entertainment, including slot machine entertainment. It focuses on retail sports betting, online social casino, bingo and iCasino products. It acquired Score Media and Gaming Inc., a Canada-based digital media and sports betting company, for $2 billion. 

Penn National Gaming operates on 44 properties across 20 states, with the following Q4 highlights as of December 31, 2021:

• Revenues: $1.6 billion, an increase of $545.1 million year-over-year and $231.3 million over 2019.
• Net income: $44.8 million, an income margin of 2.8%, compared to last year's net income margin of 1.2% and net loss margin of 6.9% in 2019.
• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR): $480.5 million, an increase of $115.1 million year-over-year compared to 2019's $81.1 million.
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA): $369.0 million, an increase of $113.1 million year-over-year and $65 million over 2019.

Analysts expect Penn National Gaming's sales and adjusted earnings to grow further in 2022.

DraftKings Inc. NASDAQ: DKNG

DraftKings Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company and provides customers with daily sports, sports betting and iGaming opportunities as well as licensing sports betting and casino gaming platform software for online and retail through various channels, including traditional websites and direct app downloads, as well as direct-to-consumer digital platforms.

In Q3 2021, DraftKings reported revenue of $213 million, an increase of 60% compared to 2020. Monthly unique payers increased by 31% and average revenue per monthly unique payer grew by 38%. 

DraftKings Marketplace has lots of irons in the fire, including this tiny snapshot:

• Polygon, an Ethereum-based scaling platform 
• Micro-betting across the DraftKings Sportsbook
• Multiyear relationship with the National Basketball Association, which grants DraftKings expansive NBA rights and assets to integrate within its sports betting, daily fantasy sports, iGaming and free-to-play products and promotional offerings.

DraftKings stock offers solid long-term prospects sports betting, though it did fall short of targets last year. It has strong revenue growth and leads the online betting trend. 

Boyd Gaming Corporation NYSE: BYD

Boyd Gaming Corporation, headquartered in Las Vegas, manages and operates gaming and entertainment properties with a portfolio that includes hotels, casinos, breweries, resorts and spas. 

Boyd Gaming Corporation currently owns and operates 28 gaming properties in 10 states, including Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The company finished 2021 with record quarterly performances across every segment of its operations. Boyd Gaming reported Q4 results as follows: 

• Revenues of $879.8 million, up 38.4% from $635.9 million in Q4 2020. 
• Net income of $109.8 million, or $0.96 per share, for Q4 2021, compared to $83.3 million, or $0.73 per share for 2020.
• Total adjusted EBITDAR of $347.3 million in the Q4 2021, increasing 65% from $210.5 million  in Q4 2020. 
• Adjusted earnings for Q4 2021 of $154.3 million, or $1.35 per share, compared to $51.9 million, or $0.46 per share, for the same period in 2020. 
• Adjusted EBITDAR margins were 39.5% in Q4 of 2021, increasing from 33.1% last year.

Boyd Gaming consistently remains a staple in the casino industry and the sports betting market. 

Consider Sports Betting Stocks Ahead of the Super Bowl

As sports betting continues to burst in popularity and as it continues to expand at the state level, it offers some major investment opportunities, particularly with app-based betting options. If you're nervous about investing in stocks, consider ETFs like the iBET Sports Betting and Gaming ETF NYSEARCA: IBET or the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF for instant diversification.