Gaming Stocks Stabilize Even as Markets Fall on Iran War Fears

Energy prices soared last week, and U.S. crude oil futures jumped 35%, marking the biggest weekly gains since 1983. The broader market tumbled amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, and the S&P 500 Index fell over 2% last week, turning negative for the year. However, the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF closed almost flat for the week, outperforming the S&P 500 for the third consecutive week.

Lottomatica Group and Better Collective were among the major gainers last week, while Sea Limited and Century Casinos underperformed.

Biggest Gainers

Lottomatica Group (MIL: LTMC) +19.59%

With gains of nearly 20% last week, Lottomatica Group was the biggest gainer in our coverage of gaming stocks. Last week’s gains were largely attributed to a better-than-expected earnings report. The company’s 2025 revenues rose 12% to €2.26 billion, largely fueled by its high-margin online segment.

Lottomatica reported an adjusted net profit of €369 million in 2025, which was 45% higher than the previous year. The company announced a dividend of €0.44 per share, which is in line with its policy of paying 30% of adjusted net profits as dividends.

Lottomatica issued strong guidance for 2026, projecting adjusted EBITDA of €940–€980 million, which was slightly above analyst consensus.

Management announced plans to seek authorization for a new €700 million share buyback (up to 12.5% of share capital) over the next 18 months. This follows the €300 million in buybacks already completed in 2025. Buyback announcements are usually a positive sign as they signal management’s confidence in future cash flows.

Better Collective (STO: BETCO) +12.4%

Better Collective continued its strong run, gaining over 12% last week and extending its year-to-date gains to an impressive 26.5%. Last week, Better Collective announced a new share buyback program of up to €40 million, scheduled to run through March 2027. This follows the successful completion of a previous €20 million program that ended on March 4.

The company had released its Q4 2025 earnings in the preceding week. It achieved its highest-ever quarterly EBITDA (before special items) of €37 million, a 10% increase year-over-year, while the EBITDA margin expanded from 35% to 39% over the period. Its 2026 guidance was also impressive, and the company expects organic revenue growth of 7%-12% while projecting EBITDA growth of 8%-18 %.

Notably, Better Collective is set to hold its annual general meeting on March 24. The board has proposed Thomas Plenborg, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, as the new chairman. Once elected, he would take over the baton from Jens Bager, who did not seek re-election to the position.

Corsair Gaming (NYSE: CRSR) +8.38%

Corsair Gaming’s stock rose 8.4% last week, which helped it bridge its year-to-date losses and turn flat for the year. It has been quite a volatile year for the stock, though, and it plunged to record lows in the preceding week, briefly falling below the $5 level, which marks the dividing line between penny stocks and other stocks.

Last week, the company announced the launch of Wave Next, which it said was “the most ambitious evolution of its Elgato audio platform since its debut in 2020.”      

The sharp recovery in memory chip prices is another tailwind for Corsair Gaming. As a dominant vendor in the retail memory market, Corsair is seen as a primary beneficiary because it holds inventory bought at lower prices, which can expand gross margins as retail prices rise.

Moreover, Crucial’s exit from certain retail segments has left Corsair with greater market share and pricing power.

Biggest Losers

Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) -15.19%

Sea Limited continued its dismal run, plunging over 15% last week and extending its year-to-date loss to almost 28%. The stock has looked weak since peaking near $200 last year, and last week’s crash was driven by the Q4 2025 earnings miss. While the company’s revenues rose an impressive 38.4% year over year during the quarter and came in ahead of Street estimates, its EPS of $0.63 fell well short of consensus estimates.

Specifically, its gaming subsidiary Garena reported GAAP revenues of $701 million, 35.1% higher than the corresponding quarter in the previous year, while the segment’s quarterly active users rose 2.5% YoY to 633.3 million.

After the dismal earnings report and forward guidance, several brokerages slashed their target prices. Among others, Barclays lowered its target price from $226 to $120 while Bernstein and Jefferies lowered theirs to $150.

Century Casinos (NYSE: CNTY) -14.29%

Century Casinos was among the major losers last week, falling by over 14%. There wasn’t any major company-specific news last week, and the fall looks like a reaction to the broader market meltdown. CNTY is a microcap company with limited trading volumes and is quite volatile, making it a risky proposition, at least for risk-averse investors.

Meanwhile, Century Casinos will release its Q4 earnings this week. The company’s recent financial performance has been dismal, and it missed on most key metrics in Q3. For instance, its revenues came in at $153.7 million, well below the $163.4 million analysts had modeled. Its net loss rose 30% year over year to $10.5 million, which was also above analysts’ expectations.

Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) –13.2%

Genius Sports fell by over 13% last week, extending its year-to-date drawdown to over 51%. Last week’s decline was attributable to mixed Q4 earnings. While the company’s topline growth was better than expected, it missed bottom-line estimates by a mile, reporting a per-share loss of 8 cents while consensus estimates called for a 3-cent profit.  

For the full year 2025, the net loss increased to $111.6 million, up from $63 million in 2024. This was largely blamed on “non-recurring expenses,” specifically stock-based compensation related to NFL warrants and litigation costs.

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 last month. Investors are concerned about the cost and the complexity of integrating such a large entity, and while management tried to justify the deal during the earnings call, it failed to cut ice with critics.

Major Gaming Industry Developments Last Week

Staying with earnings, Accel Entertainment’s Q4 revenues rose 7.5% to $341.4 million, while the adjusted EBITDA rose 18.9% over the period to $56.3 million, both metrics rising to a record high. Entain Plc also reported its financial results last week, which showed that its online Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) excluding the U.S. rose 8% last year. The company expects the metric to rise between 5%-7% this year in constant currency terms.

Looking ahead, Gambling.com, Skillz, DouYu International, and Century Casinos are set to release their quarterly reports this year.

Talking of prediction markets, U.S. Democratic lawmakers, Senator Chris Murphy and Representative Mike Levin, are working on a bill to reform them after wagering on the war in Iran.

Separately, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced a bill in the Senate to bar federal officials from trading on prediction platforms.

Meanwhile, the stellar growth in prediction markets continues to attract new players despite the regulatory uncertainty. Last week, Betr said that it would launch prediction markets in partnership with Polymarket. Investors are also backing prediction market platforms, and both Kalshi and Polymarket are reportedly seeking valuations of $20 billion in their respective funding rounds.