Gaming Stocks Hold Their Ground Even as Iran War Fears Rattle Markets

The Iran war is now in its third week, taking a toll on global stock markets. Specifically, the S&P 500 Index fell 1.6% last week and has closed in the red for three consecutive weeks. Meanwhile, gaming stocks, which are generally high-beta and tend to fall more than the broader market, largely held their ground. The Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF fell just over 1% last week, outperforming the S&P 500 Index for the fourth consecutive week.

Caesars Entertainment and Evolution AB were among the biggest gainers last week, while Corsair Gaming and Light & Wonder were among the major losers.

Major Gainers

Caesars Entertainment (NYSE: CZR) +6.29%

Caesars Entertainment rose over 6% last week and extended its year-to-date gains to an impressive 20%. Last week’s gains came amid reports of a bidding war for the company. Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Golden Nugget casino chain and the NBA’s Houston Rockets, has reportedly submitted an exclusive bid for the company at around $34 per share. Fertitta has a history of aggressive expansion in the gaming and hospitality sectors.

Legendary activist investor Carl Icahn has also reportedly submitted an all-cash bid of approximately $33 per share. Notably, both offers are well above CZR’s current trading price, and reports of multiple bids for the company prompted Morgan Stanley to raise its target price to $32 from $25.

Evolution AB (STO: EVO) +6.15%

Evolution shares also rose over 6% last week, even as they are still down 5.4% for the year. There wasn’t any major news related to the company last week, and the upward price action comes after recent weakness in shares, which seems to have attracted value and contrarian investors.

Notably, Evolution has a P/E multiple of just around 10x while it has a healthy dividend yield of over 5%. It also generates strong free cash flows, some of which it has been using to repurchase shares. In periods of economic turmoil, as we are now, investors often seek solace in value and high-dividend stocks like Evolution.

DouYu International Holdings (NYSE: DOYU) +3.84%

DouYu stock gained almost 4% last week and ranked among the major gainers. There wasn’t any company-specific news, though, and the gains came amid the rise in select Chinese shares last week.

Meanwhile, DouYu is a microcap company with a market cap below $200 million and scant trading volume, making it susceptible to wild price movements.

Biggest Losers

Corsair Gaming (NYSE: CRSR) -10.59%

Caorsair Gaming stock fell over 10% last week and was the biggest loser in our coverage of gaming stocks. It has been quite a volatile year for the stock, and it has been alternating between the week’s top gainers and losers for three weeks now. Notably, CRSR plunged to record lows in February, briefly falling below the $5 level, which marks the dividing line between penny stocks and other stocks.

Last week’s decline looks like profit-taking following an over 8% gain the previous week. The sell-off only gained traction amid broader market weakness, amid soaring crude oil prices that have fueled stagflation fears.

Light & Wonder (ASX: LNW) -9.06%

Light & Wonder stock fell by more than 9% last week and has lost nearly a quarter of its market capitalization this year. While the year started on a positive note for the stock, and it rose to Australian dollars 193 in mid-January on optimism over its settlement with Aristocrat, it has looked weak since.

The resolution removed a legal uncertainty, but it came at a high cost, as Light & Wonder agreed to pay $127.5 million to Aristocrat to settle the case. Also, after the relief rally faded, investors’ attention shifted to the company’s fundamentals, particularly its bloated debt pile, which led to the correction. The company’s Q4 2025 earnings report also failed to cut ice with investors, despite a 12% rise in revenue.

Century Casinos (NYSE: CNTY) -9.03%

Century Casinos fell over 9% last week and has now turned negative for the year. The bulk of last week’s losses came on Friday after the company’s Q4 2025 earnings spooked investors. Century Casinos’ revenues came in at $138 million, below the $141.6 million analysts expected. It reported a per-share loss of $0.61, which was much wider than the $0.45 that analysts had been modeling.

Stifel lowered the stock’s target price from $3 to $2.5 following the report. The brokerage expects CNTY to report negative free cash flow this year, which would only compound the company’s troubles, as its debt load exceeds $1 billion while its market cap is below $40 million.

Major Gaming Industry Developments

Last week, Flutter Entertainment announced a $250 million buyback, the fifth tranche of the multi-year $5 billion program it announced in September 2024.

Looking at prediction market developments, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) became the latest member of Congress to propose legislation to rein in the prediction market industry and introduced the Prediction Markets Security and Integrity Act of 2026, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.).

Separately, Senator Adam Schiff introduced the DEATH BETS (Discouraging Exploitative Assassination, Tragedy, and Harm Betting in Event Trading Systems) Act, which proposes a prohibition on prediction markets offering contracts related to war and death.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission formally opened the next phase of its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking last week, seeking public comments on rule-making for prediction markets. The CFTC has been asserting its authority to regulate prediction markets amid several states’ efforts to ban them.

Talking of earnings, Gambling.com released its Q4 earnings last week, which showed that revenues rose 31% to $46.2 million while adjusted EBITDA increased 5% to $15.5 million. It was a pivotal quarter for the company, as for the first time in history, its non-SEO-dependent revenues surpassed SEO-dependent revenues.

This week, Bally’s Corporation, Bragg Gaming, and Huya are set to release their quarterly reports.