Allen is Director, Gaming and Lodging US for Morgan Stanley and one of the closest watched investors in the gaming space.
He expects Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas to go forth with sports betting this year.
Voters in Maryland, Louisiana and South Dakota already approved legalized sports wagering last November.
Of the nine other states where sports betting legislation is on the table, Texas, Ohio, Arizona and Massachusetts represent some of the largest markets waiting to be tapped into.
Texas’ bid to legalize sports betting has received outsized attention in recent months. Before his passing, Las Vegas Sands Corp. president Sheldon Adelson deployed a team of lobbyists to the Lonestar State to push forward expanded gaming. Texas is the second most populous state in the country behind California with 29m people.
Allen made his prediction while upgrading DraftKings’ rating from weight to overweight. DraftKings stock soared 3.7% on Tuesday to $53.18, nearly $2 higher than where it began the day.
The Morgan Stanley investor estimates DraftKings will generate Q4 revenue at 10 percent above industry-wide expectations of $232m.
