Over the last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, there were many changes to society on a world-wide scale — remote work became a global phenomenon, students continued their education over zoom, and entertainers and athletes performed in empty stadiums and arenas. However, there was one constant throughout these abnormal times: gambling.
During the height of Covid-19, casinos and casino hotels were either closed or limited due to their nature of being indoor venues, but that didn’t stop people from gambling, as internet gaming services and internet sports-betting catapulted with people spending more time at home with an inability to attend casinos or go on vacations to casino hotels. As Covid-19 inching into the rear-view mirror, and with restrictions being slowly lifted over the last few months on casinos and casino hotels, the spending has shifted back from internet gaming services to casinos.
This shift can be seen in the MVIS Global Gaming Index (ticker: MVBJK). The Index, which tracks the performance of the largest and most liquid companies that generate at least 50% of their revenues from global gaming, has seen a steady quarterly increase over the past year, and as of 1st of June, has a YTD performance of 19.66%. Leading the charge for the index since Q1 2021 has been casinos and gaming equipment companies. With Casinos in Las Vegas opening to full capacity as of 1st of June, look for the index to continue to soar.
MVIS Global Gaming Index
01/06/2020-01/06/2021
Source: MV Index Solutions. All values are rebased to 1,000. Data as of 01 June 2021.
Steven Braid is a Data and Marketing Analyst at MV Index Solutions. He is responsible for supporting the data, marketing, research, and product services. Prior to working for MVIS, Steven worked as an equity research analyst for Dane Capital Management, a special situations hedge fund, where he focused on SPACs and other forms of special situation transactions. Prior to his time in Finance, he worked as a professional journalist, publishing for the New York Times, USA Today, and other national periodicals. Steven has a M.S. in Data Analytics & Applied Research from the Baruch College Zicklin School of Business, and a BA in International Political Economy from the University of Michigan.
The article above is an opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of MV Index Solutions or its affiliates.