The global gambling market was estimated to be worth some $550 to $650 billion in 2025 according to various estimates. However, much of that came from international offshore online casinos – which are almost never publicly traded stock. Still, locally-regulated online gambling markets globally were worth well over $100 billion by most estimates, and land-based gambling companies were collectively worth significantly more. Many of which you can buy or trade shares in right now.
This article will look at the general state of the business, and then take a brief look at some of the biggest names in the sector alongside recent stock performances and investor outlook for each.
The Overall Sector – What You Need to Know
By most estimates the global gambling market could hit over $750 billion to $1 trillion by 2030. That represents a growth of around 8% to 10% a year, which would be consistent with recent performance.
While land-based gambling still dominates, mainly thanks to its huge popularity in Asia, online gambling giants are gaining ground on the land-based operators every year. There is now huge competition in the online market however, as an online casino is generally a lot easier to start than a land-based one.
For a great example of a modern online casino consider jackpot city online casino. With a huge selection of games across global providers, top-tier bonuses and speedy modern payment systems, they show what an online casino needs to be in 2026 to stand out in a competitive global market.
Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts are Old-School Gambling
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is still technically an American company, with corporate headquarters in its namesake city, but it hasn’t operated any gambling on US soil for half a decade now.
Instead, the largest gambling company in the world by market cap ($29.5 billion) focuses almost exclusively on mega casino resorts in Macau and Singapore. This strategy has paid off for the most part, as the company remains the biggest gambling operator in the world – however it hasn’t been immune from fluctuations.
Most analysts still rate LVS as buy or hold, and it did recently outperform its own revenue and investor targets in its most recent 2026 quarterly. But shares are down significantly on their 2025 peak.
Meanwhile MGM Resorts International is the largest operator of US casinos, including many of the biggest in Las Vegas. It currently has an $11.8 billion market cap. Despite the slump in Las Vegas tourism and the relentless rise of prediction markets as new competition, MGM has been trading above its 2025 high points for most of this year.
That will have only been spurred on by investors hoping for a swift payday as People Inc billionaire Barry Diller recently offered to buy up the company and take it private. He offered 48.30 per share, or around $12.8 billion, although the offer has not yet been accepted. It currently sits at 46.70 per share.
MGM also has a 50% stake in BetMGM, the online gambling arm it runs in collaboration with European operator Entain. However the future of that project is uncertain given the potential private takeover.
DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment are the Online Titans
If there are two global names that represent the online gambling business in 2026, it’s DraftKings (DKNG) and Flutter (FLTR). The latter is owner of the more recognizable to US customers FanDuel. These two dominate the regulated US and online casino space, taking some 70% market share between them in many states.
Flutter also owns plenty of European and international gambling brands, including Paddy Power, Betfair and PokerStars, where DraftKings is very focused on its core brand.
However, things are not looking so good for Flutter. Its share price has fallen by more than two thirds in a year, wiping $40 billion of its value. The news was potentially compounded when back in May this year market analysis revealed half a dozen giant US hedge funds had shorted Flutter to the tune of hundreds of millions – suggesting the stock has a way to fall still in analysts’ eyes.
Meanwhile DraftKings is also currently trading down on 2025. Both operators’ massive US market interests have been hit by the rise of prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. However, market analysis is generally more bullish on DKNG than FLTR. That may be partly down to its huge recent investments in its own prediction market platform (which has quickly done rather well) and its multimedia strategy, including an expensive brand partnership with ESPN.
Many analysts expect that could lead to losses for the operator this year, despite huge revenues, and that its aggressive strategy could see it take a year or two to return to profitability.
This was a long-standing issue both DraftKings and FanDuel had faced – no sooner had both companies looked to turn a corner than prediction market competition hit the scene.
