Last week, quarterly earnings reports stole the spotlight for gaming investors, revealing a somewhat disappointing performance. The Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF, which tracks a selection of gaming companies, ended the week down, even as the S&P 500 Index surged by 3.6%, marking its best week since April.
Among the week's significant movers, Corsair Gaming and Genius Sports stood out as the biggest gainers, whereas Playtika Holdings and Flutter Entertainment registered substantial losses.
**Biggest Gainers**
**Corsair Gaming (NYSE: CRSR) +35.25%**
Corsair Gaming topped the list with an impressive gain of over 35%. This surge largely occurred on Friday following a positive response to the company’s second-quarter earnings. While revenue decreased by 2% year-over-year (YoY) to $314.3 million, it surpassed analysts' expectations. More notably, the company's adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23 more than doubled the forecast. In addition, Corsair reported a GAAP profit of $9.1 million for the quarter, a significant recovery from a loss of $20.3 million during the same period last year. The company also updated its annual revenue guidance, raising it to a low end of $1.40 billion from $1.33 billion, while maintaining the high end at $1.47 billion. Adjusted EPS guidance was lifted to a range of 85 cents to 94 cents from a previous forecast of 58 cents to 74 cents. Notably, CRSR's stock has surged over 141% this year, bolstered by optimism surrounding its AI initiatives.
**Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) +9.52%**
Genius Sports released its Q2 earnings report, achieving revenues of $196 million, representing a 65% YoY increase and exceeding its guidance of $185 million. The company's adjusted EBITDA reached $53 million, also outperforming the projected $45 million. Following strong quarterly results, Genius raised its annual revenue forecast to a range of $1.005 billion to $1.025 billion, up from an earlier range of $990 million to $1.010 billion. They also increased their adjusted EBITDA guidance to between $285 million and $295 million, up from $270 million to $280 million previously. CEO Mark Locke stated, "We continue to realize the benefits of the infrastructure we’ve spent years building, with advertisers placing greater value on our official data and audience."
**Light & Wonder (ASX: LNW) +8.77%**
Light & Wonder's stock jumped nearly 9%, reducing its Year-To-Date (YTD) loss to around 21%. Investors responded favorably to its Q2 earnings, where consolidated revenue grew by 2% YoY to $828 million and adjusted EBITDA increased by 9% to $383 million. The company’s adjusted free cash flow soared by 50% YoY to reach $156 million. Furthermore, recurring revenue climbed to $580 million, which constituted 71% of total revenue for the quarter.
**Biggest Losers**
**Playtika Holdings (NYSE: PLTK) -26.32%**
Playtika Holdings experienced a dramatic drop of over 26%, marking it as the largest loser of the week. After being one of the key gainers in prior weeks amidst rumors of selling its studio SuperPlay to Tencent for up to $1.5 billion, the company’s Q2 earnings fell largely in line with expectations. However, the management's guidance startled investors, indicating that for full-year 2026, revenue and adjusted EBITDA expectations would likely remain at the lower end of previous forecasts. The company attributed this to a decline in consumer sentiment linked to inflation affecting discretionary spending. Additionally, Playtika plans to cut marketing spending for SuperPlay titles by as much as 70% in the second half of the year, raising concerns about the sustainability of its recent revenue growth.
**Flutter Entertainment (NYSE: FLUT) -9.31%**
Flutter Entertainment continued its downward trend, with a decline of over 9%, pushing its YTD loss to 56%. Despite slightly exceeding Street estimates with its Q2 revenues, the EPS fell short at 49 cents. The company lowered its full-year U.S. revenue and EBITDA forecasts due to slower U.S. sports betting growth and increased promotional expenses to maintain market share for FanDuel. CEO Peter Jackson acknowledged issues with execution last year, revealing that FanDuel has lost market share. Flutter announced it will transition some of its contracts to Crypto.com from CME, aiming to deliver new products quickly ahead of the NFL season. Jackson’s impending departure at the end of the quarter was also announced, with Dan Taylor set to take his place.
**Rush Street Interactive (NYSE: RSI) -7.54%**
Rush Street Interactive's stock decreased over 7% despite achieving record revenues of $393.8 million for the second quarter, which represented a 46% YoY increase, surpassing expectations. Although its EPS met estimates, management cautioned about expected profit margin lows in Q3 due to increased marketing and user acquisition costs, set to rise by up to $10 million. These investments aim to support new regional launches, including in Alberta, Canada, but could negatively impact Q3 financials, with a more optimistic projection for Q4.
**Major Gaming Industry Developments**
Recent reports indicate Polymarket may raise approximately $1 billion in a new funding round, potentially valuing the prediction markets platform at over $20 billion. Its past funding round in April valued it at $15 billion. In a related note, Kalshi, a competitor, was valued at $22 billion in May and aims for a $40 billion valuation in this current quarter.
The Q2 earnings season highlights the rapid growth of the prediction market sector. Companies like Robinhood and Coinbase are benefiting, with Robinhood achieving event contract revenues of $156 million in Q2, outpacing its cryptocurrency business, which generated $100 million. Coinbase has also seen triple-digit growth in its Q2 prediction markets revenue, now at an annualized rate exceeding $100 million.
DraftKings reported that its prediction business annualized volume leaped to $11 billion from $2.3 billion in April, with over 600,000 customers utilizing its prediction markets.
Polymarket announced a partnership with the ATP Tour, becoming the official prediction market provider for professional men's tennis, allowing U.S. users to stream live matches while engaging in real-time markets.
Novig has launched its sports prediction market nationwide after being designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Designated Contract Market. On a related note, it has sued New York in an attempt to prevent regulatory scrutiny, considering the state’s history of targeting such platforms.
In Macau, H1 non-gaming visitor spending metrics revealed a 17.1% increase in total revenues, amounting to $5.51 billion, indicating stabilization in business after the downturn during the FIFA World Cup.
