Casino News Roundup: Las Vegas Strip Recovery & BetMGM Trims Outlook
Welcome to the Casino Daily News Roundup - your briefing on the latest news from the global casino industry. We bring you the biggest stories from across the sector, covering everything from major business deals and revenue figures to new openings and regulatory developments.
Signs Of Life On Las Vegas Strip As Room Rates Climb
After a prolonged period of sluggish performance, the Las Vegas Strip is showing early signs of recovery - though the picture remains uneven, and heavily skewed toward the top end of the market.
Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas noted in a Monday investor update that room rates on the Strip were soft in April but are picking up meaningfully in May and June.
May is the standout month. Caesars Entertainment properties are projected to see room rates jump 34%, buoyed largely by an exclusive State Farm Insurance convention.
The Strip overall is up 11% that month. MGM Resorts is the laggard, posting just a 1% gain in May and continuing to trail its Strip rivals.
June brings broader improvement, with the Strip up 5% overall, MGM up 2%, and Caesars up 3%.
Weekday rates are showing stronger momentum than weekends, with June weekday prices 19% higher across the Strip year-on-year.
Jonas flagged this as a genuine positive signal.
For Q2 as a whole, room rates are up 13%, lifting the Strip average by 4%.
But there is a clear divide. Middle-end room rates are still down 7% and low-end rates are down 8%.
Luxury properties like Wynn Resorts are carrying the market, with high-end guests proving resilient in the face of broader economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
Q1 was challenging. MGM properties finished the first quarter down 4% on room rates.
Caesars rose just 1%, with the boost driven largely by a one-off trade show - the ConExpo-Con/Ag construction expo in March, which brought an estimated 140,000 visitors to the city.
Strip-wide, without that event, rates were down 4%.
April has been soft again, with MGM down 15%, Caesars down 12%, and the Strip overall down 8%. Jonas described it as an improvement from an earlier sampling but still weak.
There are reasons for optimism heading into the second half of the year.
The NFL and NHL schedules have not yet been fully released, and events including WWE, Morgan Wallen, BTS, Metallica, and a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight are scheduled between April and late 2026.
Those bookings could provide meaningful demand spikes.
For now though, the recovery is real but fragile - and casinos operating in the American market, along with gaming operators on the Strip, are navigating a market where luxury is thriving and the broader consumer is still finding their feet.
DraftKings Sets Out Bold $80 Billion Vision As It Launches Super App
DraftKings used its 2026 Virtual Investor Day to lay out one of the most ambitious growth frameworks in the US gaming industry's recent history.
Management projected the overall industry gross revenue opportunity will reach between $55billion and $80bn by 2030, up from around $34bn today.
The forecast reflects continued state-by-state legalization of sportsbook and online casino products, growth in existing markets, and the rapid expansion of prediction markets through its DraftKings Predictions arm.
At the same time, the company unveiled plans to launch a unified Super App - branded DraftKings Sports & Casino - bringing together sportsbook, predictions, casino and lottery into a single account and wallet.
It is expected to be fully live before the end of 2026.
AI deployment across the platform has already driven a 40% improvement in engineering hour productivity year-on-year, a 100% increase in AI-assisted code reviews, and a 25% improvement in chatbot customer service containment.
DraftKings targets a long-term adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 30%.
The ambitious outlook arrives against a challenging backdrop.
DraftKings shares have fallen over 40% in the past six months, with Flutter down over 60%, as online slots and traditional sportsbook models face mounting competition from prediction market platforms.
BetMGM Posts Q1 Growth But Trims Full-Year Outlook
BetMGM reported Q1 2026 net revenue of $696million, a 6% year-on-year increase.
The headline was driven by iGaming, which grew 9% to $481m.
Online sports betting rose a more modest 4% to $203m, with management citing player-friendly results in the quarter - meaning bettors won more than expected. Adjusted EBITDA rose 11% to $25m.
Despite the headline growth, BetMGM cut its full-year revenue guidance.
Net revenue is now expected to come in between $2.9bn and $3.1bn, down from the prior range of $3.1bn to $3.2bn.
Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $300m to $350m was maintained but flagged toward the lower end.
Average monthly actives fell 9% year-on-year, with CEO Adam Greenblatt pointing to "a heightened competitive environment" as a factor.
Prediction markets were in the frame. Monthly active users were down in part due to users drifting toward prediction platforms, though Greenblatt described the disruption as temporary.
He said BetMGM "stands with 40 Attorneys General and our regulated states" and is positioning for a reversion to the norm when the regulatory picture clears. Full-year earnings from MGM Resorts follow on April 29.
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Hong Kong Halts Basketball Betting Over Prediction Market Fears
Hong Kong has suspended plans to legalize basketball betting, citing concerns that the rapid growth of prediction markets could fuel illegal gambling activity.
The move had been expected to launch as early as September, with the Hong Kong Jockey Club positioned as the sole licensed operator.
Lawmakers had already approved the relevant legislation last September.
The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau said that legalizing a new betting product now risks drawing public attention toward unregulated prediction market platforms - which are considered illegal under Hong Kong gambling law.
Officials pointed to the scale of the sector's global expansion as the key rationale.
Prediction market trading volumes reached $64bn last year, a threefold increase on 2024, and are projected to grow a further fivefold by 2030, with more than 40% of that activity expected to be sports-related.
The Jockey Club said it respects the decision and will wait for further government guidance.
It had already committed significant investment to launch preparations and said a basketball betting product could be ready within three to six months if the license eventually proceeds.
Illegal basketball betting in Hong Kong was estimated at between HK$70bn and HK$90bn in 2024.
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