The changing landscape of how Americans watch sports is developing in a way that could benefit gambling stocks, according to Wells Fargo. Some of the sports-betting companies have struck deals with the NFL that allow them to show a livestream of the nationally televised games, like NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” within their mobile apps. Wells Fargo analyst Daniel Politzer said the initial results showed the technology passed the test for bettors who want to gamble in between plays. “During week 1 of the NFL season, Caesars Sportsbook app had a livestream of NFL SNF. Latency was better than live TV (20-30 seconds), an incremental development in the OSB/media ecosystem that could potentially increase in-game betting,” Politzer said. In addition to Caesars Entertainment, Fanatics and Flutters ‘ FanDuel are also among the sportsbooks working on in-app streaming, according to Wells Fargo. The speed at which a sportsbook can show video and take wagers online is key to determining what types of live-betting it can offer. For example, the live odds to win a game can be updated after any big play, as opposed to only during commercial breaks if connections are slower. And in-game betting doesn’t just grow the number of wagers made. Increased in-game betting could lead to a higher hold for sportsbooks, Politzer said, which is effectively the margin that books make on all bets. For this change to benefit sportsbooks, companies like Caesars don’t need to win over mass audiences, according to Wells Fargo. “Net, we don’t expect consumers’ preference for watching football games on big screens to change, but embedding live NFL games and betting on a single screen without any noticeable latency issues is a marquee development in the sports betting/media ecosystem, and over time, could potentially play a role in negotiations for sports media rights,” Politzer said. Shares of Caesars were down more than 2% on Monday. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting. Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC.
