Global markets rebounded last week, and the S&P 500 rose over 4.5%. The world’s most popular index rose to a record high amid the fragile truce in the Middle East. Gaming stocks also participated in the rally, and the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (NYSE: BETZ) soared nearly 7%.
Skillz and Robinhood were among the major gainers last week, while Light & Wonder and Betr Entertainment underperformed.
Biggest Gainers
Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ) +57.32%
Skillz was by far the biggest gainer in our coverage of gaming stocks, soaring over 57% during the week. However, despite the stellar rally last week, the stock is still down over 10% for the year.
There wasn’t any major company-specific news last week, and the rebound looks like a short-covering exercise in the beaten-down penny stock.
Skillz stock has been quite volatile and sliding since hitting a high of $9.11 in mid-August 2025. The loss-making company faced a setback last year after Tether Studios, the developer of the popular games Solitaire Cube and 21 Blitz, announced it would terminate its licensing agreements with Skillz.
As a high-beta meme stock with scant trading volumes and a market cap of just over $60 million, which is less than half of its debt obligations, SKLZ is susceptible to wild price swings, making it a risky investment.
Robinhood (NYSE: HOOD) +31.16%
Robinhood stock soared over 31% last week and made it to the list of top gainers. The gains came amid a rise in market trading volumes, which is positive for Robinhood’s stock trading business. However, the biggest catalyst came when the SEC officially approved the elimination of the Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule.
For context, previously, any trader with less than $25,000 in their account was limited to just 4 day trades in a rolling 5-day period. Now, the fixed $25,000 threshold has been replaced by a “risk-based” equity framework. This allows millions of smaller accounts to trade more frequently, which is expected to drive a massive spike in trading volume and, by extension, revenue for Robinhood.
Robinhood’s prediction market business has also been growing rapidly. Despite regulatory uncertainty, Bernstein estimates that prediction market volumes are on track to quadruple to $240 billion in 2026. The leading brokerage expects volumes to hit $1 trillion by the end of this decade.
Cantor Fitzgerald also released a bullish note last week and sees Robinhood and Coinbase as the key listed beneficiaries of the expected explosion in prediction market volumes.
Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) +24.74%
Genius Sports added almost a quarter to its market capitalization last week, which helped it narrow its year-to-date losses to 55%. Last week’s rally came from oversold levels and looks like a possible short squeeze amid the broader market rally.
Last week’s rally notwithstanding, GENI has looked weak since it reported Q4 2025 earnings, which showed the company’s per-share loss was 8 cents, while consensus estimates called for a 3-cent profit. Moreover, it guided 2026 revenues to between $810 million and $820 million, which also fell well short of the $873 million that analysts had been modeling.
Markets are also apprehensive about the $1.2 billion acquisition of Legend that Genius Sports announced, given the cost and the complexity of integrating such a large entity.
Biggest Losers
Light & Wonder (ASX: LNW) – 3.19%
In a week where we were spoilt for gainers, Light & Wonder was the biggest loser in our coverage of gaming stocks, falling by over 3%. Notably, Australian markets closed in the red last week and did not participate in the global rally.
While Australian tech stocks rallied last week, banking and mining stocks fell, dragging the indices down. Australian markets are currently pricing in a potential rate hike at the May meeting, given sticky inflation running above the country’s central bank’s target.
Notably, the ASX 200 has flirted with the 9,000-point mark for several sessions this week but failed to hold above it. The index has failed to decisively break above that level, which signals selling pressure at higher levels.
Betr Entertainment (ASX: BBT) – 2.56%
Australia-listed Betr Entertainment was among the other major losers last week, falling 2.5%. Along with weakness in Australian markets, ongoing discussions about tighter gambling advertising and credit card bans in Australia have created a risk-off environment for digital wagering stocks like Betr.
Century Casinos (NYSE: CNTY) – 0.67%
Century Casinos fell slightly last week, and the stock failed to gain traction despite a broad-based rally in US stocks. Markets have been apprehensive about the company’s stretched balance sheet, as its debt load exceeds $1 billion while its market cap is just over $40 million. To make matters worse, Stifel expects the company to generate negative free cash flow this year, which would further strain its already weak balance sheet.
Major Gaming Industry Developments
BetMGM released its quarterly update last week, showing that its revenue rose 6% year over year to $696 million. The company, which is owned by Entain and MGM Resorts, however, lowered its annual guidance and expects 2026 revenues between $2.9 billion and $3.1 billion, down from its previous guidance of $3.1 billion to $3.2 billion. While BetMGM maintained its annual adjusted EBITDA guidance of $300 million to $350 million, it now expects it to be towards the lower end of that range.
In Asia, lawmakers in Indonesia formally proposed a framework that would require social media firms to contribute to gambling addiction treatment programs.
What Should Gaming Investors Watch This Week?
The Q1 2026 earnings season is now heating up. This week, Monarch Casinos, Churchill Downs, Las Vegas Sands, Penn Entertainment, and Boyd Gaming are set to release their quarterly earnings. Corporate updates would be a key driver of gaming stocks’ price action this week as they would provide insights into how the geopolitical uncertainty and plunging consumer confidence are impacting the gaming sector.
Investors should also keep an eye on the truce in the Middle East, as any escalation could put pressure on markets, including gaming stocks, many of which are high-beta names.
