Casino stocks are rising after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting
- Casino stocks are rising Monday after the US Supreme Court ruled a 1992 federal ban on sports betting is unconstitutional.
- The decision clears the way for legal sports betting in New Jersey and beyond, with states now able to choose whether to adopt it.
- Watch Caesars Entertainment trade in real-time here.
Casino companies like MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, and Century Casinos gained Monday after the United States Supreme Court called a federal ban on sports betting unconstitutional, ruling in favor of New Jersey.
The decision will allow more states to permit the opening of sports betting businesses. Caesars Entertainment, which owns more than 50 casinos and hotels, climbed more than 5%. Century Casinos gained a little over 1%.
The court ruling voids the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which banned sports betting outside of Nevada and a few other states in which it had been grandfathered into law. The 6-3 decision ruled, "Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own."
The opportunity now arises for many more businesses across the country to open up casinos and racetracks, giving customers a market to place money on sports. In 2017, research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimated that a legal sports betting market may bring in $6.03 billion annually by 2023.
Caesars Entertainment is up less than 1% this year.
