iBET ETF Insights: Chinese stocks rallied after Beijing and Shenzhen said they would lift measures that required commuters to show negative Covid test results before travel. China gaming is being pressued by growth in both Malaysia and the Philippines. Wynn Macau, MGM China and Sands China all saw significant gains.

Stocks Impacted: MGM, LVS, WYNN, MLCO

iBET ETF Insights: Massachusetts has just made a step in the right direction for sports betting with the announcement that the Encore Boston Harbor Casino has been given approval for the first sports betting license. The vote was approved last Thursday by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission after deferring a few other votes such as Plainridge Park Casino due to their involvement with Dave Portnoy. Though it was a unanimous decision by commission, Encore will have to wait just a little bit longer to officially start accepting bets as the Massachusetts sports betting launch is slated for late January 2023. Encore Casino has said as well as having a sportsbook within their casino, they will also place kiosks in their parking lots to allow for ease of access.

iBET ETF Insights: Illinois has just released their revenue report for October showing record breaking revenue for the state. The official numbers released by the Illinois Gaming Board show that the licensed sportsbooks recorded revenue of over $102 million with bettors placing over $1 billion in bets during the month. This makes Illinois the fourth state in the U.S. to surpass the $1 billion handle mark after New York, New Jersey, and Nevada. Of the bets placed the NFL was the most popular, pulling in $358 million. Basketball trailed behind with $114 million and tennis came in third with $85 million. Since the launch of sports betting the 12 official operators have earned over $190 million in tax revenue and government officials expect that these numbers will only grow as the sportsbooks have entered deals with Chicago’s sports stadiums as well as filing applications for online-only sports betting licenses since as of now any betting app must be partnered with an on-land casino or racetrack.

iBET ETF Insights: As of now Nevada is looking on pace to not only break but shatter their 2021 gaming revenue record and they could do it in only eleven months. The month of October set the milestone for Nevada’s 20th consecutive month with over $1 billion in state gaming revenue. In just the first 10 months of 2022 Nevada gaming revenue is at $12.3 billion, a 12% increase from the 2021 year end of $13.4 billion. Las Vegas strip casinos were responsible for most of the revenue, recording $6.8 billion through October. A quote from one of the control board members comments on the report saying that the combined markets apart from the Las Vegas strip saw a 10.6% revenue growth and were key factors in the October growth.

iBET ETF Insights: A new partnership between two industry giants has just been announced. The deal marks a multi-year partnership between DraftKings and Churchill Downs for pari-mutual wagering on its famed horse racing. The details show that DraftKings will move forward with the launch of DK Horse, a new standalone app that will allow its bettors to place wagers on horse racing. The launch is planned to come before the upcoming Kentucky Derby in May 2023, with app available for the 21 states that DraftKings operates in. A quote from Bill Carstanjen, the CEO of Churchill Downs Incorporated states, “We believe the depth and quality of our online offering through TwinSpires is unmatched in horse racing… We are excited to establish this relationship with DraftKings and to deliver a full end-to-end white label ADW solution that will introduce their significant base of sports betting customers to horse racing wagering.”