Morgan Stanley Is Estimating An Online Gaming Surge

Morgan Stanley is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in New York, operating in 42 countries. They have over 1,300 offices and 60,000 employees. Under management or supervision, the company has a reported $304 billion in assets. The company has now predicted that by the year 2026, online gambling in the USA will be producing revenues as large as those currently generated by the Atlantic City and Las Vegas gambling markets.

Morgan Stanley estimates that $9.3 billion will be reported for online gambling markets by 2026. This is a substantial increase from Las Vegas at $6.2 billion in 2012 and Atlantic City at $3 billion. Representatives from Morgan Stanley say that their estimates are conservative. They added that Boyd Gaming is considered to be one of the largest stock plays with potential in the American online gaming sector.

Growth Projections and Major Players

Analysts view BYD as being the best-positioned stock in their US coverage to benefit from online gaming. Presently, BYD has a $710 million market cap and is 7x levered, with expectations to generate about $634 million of EBITDA.

Representatives also stated that MGM Resorts International is another operator perfectly positioned for online gaming. MGM has a market cap of $6 billion and is expected to generate approximately $2 billion in EBITDA.

Top Online Casinos for US Players

The Future of Online Gaming

The question for the future is: will online gaming keep bringing solid returns? In Europe, players are feeling the pinch, struggling to cover their basic financial needs, and are therefore leaving internet gaming behind.

While many speculate that declining spending is a sign that the bubble is about to burst, others argue that when the going gets tough, people play online games to escape their daily worries.