As battered-down meme stocks fall out of fashion a year after the craze began, some gaming industry analysts say online sports betting apps could see a flood of new wagers. Over the past 12 months, mentions of GameStop on the Reddit board WallStreetBets have fallen slightly, by 1.45%, according to numbers crunched for On the Money by data firm Thinknum. Mentions of Caesars Entertainment, meanwhile, are up nearly 1,000%. Betting app DraftKings is up nearly 560%. Yes — that’s probably because FanDuel and DraftKings, which together control a majority share of the online sports-betting market, have lately dangled credits as high as $1,000 to sign up new members. Caesars has likewise staged aggressive promotions in New York despite a high state tax rate of 51% on online gaming revenues. Nevertheless, Chris Grove — a gaming analyst who is also head of a lead-generation company focused on the US gambling market — says these apps have good reason for optimism that their promotions will yield fruit. “Betting on stocks and [gambling] in an app is the same thing,” Grove told On The Money. “There’s a common thread through these activities — and a fair amount of overlap in demographic and skillset between meme stocks and sports betting.” Last week, the New York Gaming Commission said mobile sports betting was off to a brisk start in its first week, with more than $600 million in bets taken by Caesar’s, FanDuel, DraftKings and BetRivers. Gaming analysts said that the massive haul was partly the result of “heavy promotion from the operators.” “Unlike Uber or Doordash, there is no debate about whether this will work once that initial phase of jostling for market share subsides,” Grove contends. “The underlying business is profitable.” Nevertheless, one gaming operator is looking to cash out early. Las Vegas-based casino giant Wynn is quietly shopping its Wynn Interactive unit — operator of the WynnBet online gaming app — and has slashed the asking price to $500 million after floating a $3 billion valuation less than a year ago, The Post was first to report.
