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About Chicken & Egg
For the gaming industry, the marked economic shift over the course of 2026 and a return to an elevated interest-rate environment after years of post-Covid easing could dissipate some of the optimism that prevailed at the onset of this year.
Many top gaming stocks have underperformed relative to the broader market in recent years, and most of the M&A activity has been facilitated by private equity and other institutions that can more readily capitalise on depressed valuations. There had been hope that rates would start to fall and help alleviate those pressures.
“Publicly traded valuations are a reflection of the current interest rate environment,” Chad Beynon, lead gaming analyst for Macquarie, told iGB. “Whether it’s a long-term financial model on a growth company, you’re going to discount that back at a higher rate, or if it’s just a standard four-wall business, the cash flows in a higher interest rate environment are worth less.”
How to play Chicken & Egg
Its exclusivity reportedly runs to 2036 under an unpublished 2016 convention with the state. The commercial operation is run under a tendered management contract rather than a licence. Unauthorised gaming houses and lotteries are criminal offences under articles 282 to 285 of the penal code.
MDJS has turned to the courts to challenge offshore betting. On 12 January the Casablanca commercial court, sitting in summary proceeding, ordered Maroc Telecom, Orange Maroc and Inwi to block 19 named betting sites and local payment intermediaries. Non-compliance carried a penalty of MAD10,000 a day.
Medias24 reported the judge’s reasoning: “Internet access providers are technically the only parties able to end the manifestly unlawful disturbance resulting from access to unauthorised betting sites.”
How to play Chicken & Egg
The MLB and NHL futures contracts could be deployed by big-money bettors as hedges on various team exposures over the course of those leagues’ seasons.
As for the regulatory outlooks for the ETFs, the SEC hasn’t publicly commented on the NHL funds’ fates and it’s too early to tell what will come of the MLB filings, but there are hundreds of futures-based ETFs on the market today.
That may be a sign that pro sports futures ETFs could avoid the “novel” label that’s been a hindrance in bringing other ETFs to market.
