The casino sector is one part of the broader gaming industry focused on leisure and resort properties and casino gaming activities. Companies in the sector own and operate casinos, resorts, hotels, ski facilities, and racetracks worldwide. The sector also includes companies involved in online gambling. Big-name casino companies in the sector include Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd., and MGM Resorts International.

The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have had an adverse impact on many companies within the casino sector. However, the industry is has bounced back sharply as restrictions have eased. Gambling revenue across the Las Vegas Strip for H1 2022 was 36% higher than the first half 2021 and even higher than the first half of 2019, before the start of the pandemic.

The VanEck Gaming ETF (BJK), an exchange-traded fund, is used as a benchmark to gauge the performance of the casino industry. However, investors should note that it includes non-casino gambling stocks that have different investment characteristics, such as DraftKings Inc., an online sports betting company. BJK has vastly underperformed the broader market, providing investors with a total return of -28.6% compared to the -13.8% total return of the Russell 1000 Index over the past 12 months. These market performance numbers and all statistics in the tables below are as of Sept. 16, 2022.

Here are the top three casino stocks with the best value, fastest growth, and best performance.

These are the casino stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Because profits can be returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks, a low P/E ratio shows that you’re paying less for each dollar of profit generated.

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• MGM Resorts International: MGM Resorts International is a global entertainment company. It owns and operates hotels and casinos, and meeting and conference spaces. The company also provides theatrical entertainment, restaurants, nightlife, and a range of retail offerings. MGM reported Q2 2022 earnings on Aug. 3. Net income soared to $1.8 billion, including a gain from the deconsolidation of MGM Growth Properties LLC. Revenue climbed by 44% year-over-year (YOY).
• Boyd Gaming Corp.: Boyd Gaming owns and operates gaming properties throughout the U.S. It also operates entertainment, restaurants, shopping, and recreational facilities on its properties. On Sept. 15, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share. The dividend is payable Oct. 15 to shareholders as of Sept. 30, 2022.
• Red Rock Resorts Inc.: Red Rock Resorts is a gaming, development, and management company that owns and manages casino and entertainment properties. Besides casino gaming, it also provides entertainment venues, movie theaters, bowling, and banquet spaces.

These are the top casino stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly YOY percentage revenue growth and most recent quarterly YOY earnings-per-share (EPS) growth. Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore, ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one figure or the other unrepresentative of the business in general.

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• MGM Resorts International: See above for company description.
• Hilton Grand Vacations Inc.: Hilton Grand Vacations is a global timeshare company. The company develops and operates a system of brand-name vacation ownership resorts in a range of vacation destinations, including Las Vegas. Hilton Grand Vacations reported Q2 2022 earnings on Aug. 9. Net income climbed by more than eight-fold as revenue nearly tripled YOY. Both the company’s Real Estate Sales and Financing segment and Resort Operations and Club Management segment saw significant growth over this period.
• Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp.: Marriott Vacations Worldwide is a global vacation company offering vacation ownership, rentals, resort and property management, and related services. It provides more than 120 vacation ownership resorts around the world. Marriott announced on Sept. 9 that it would pay a quarterly cash dividend of $0.62 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on Oct. 6 to shareholders as of Sept. 22, 2022.

These are the casino stocks that had the best returns or smallest declines in total return over the past 12 months out of the companies we looked at.

^{Source: YCharts}

• Las Vegas Sands Corp: Las Vegas Sands is a developer and operator of integrated resort properties. Its portfolio of properties include the Marina Bay Sands, The Venetian Macao, Sands Macao, and more. On Sept. 14, the company announced it had submitted, through its Sands China group, an application for a new 10-year gaming concession in Macao.
• Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp.: See above for company description.
• Red Rock Resorts Inc.: See above for company description.

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