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The world of sports will be organized for the 2022 World Cup from November 20 to December 18. The 32-team football tournament is expected to attract 5B viewers to become the most watched sport. history. Fox Sports (FOX) (FOX) and Telemundo are the FIFA World Cup English and Spanish rights holders for the tournament which will be held in stadiums in Qatar.
For investors, the biggest implication is the men’s World Cup could be the part of sports betting after the legalization since the last time the US played in the final stage of the tournament in 2014. Covers.com betting reporter Geoff Zochonde predicted this. The most anticipated World Cup sports betting promotion will be DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) and FanDuel (OTCPK:PDYPY). He also thinks that the World Cup could be an opportunity for small operators in the US with roots outside the country to present betting markets to American customers during the tournament. Roundhill Investment’s Will Hershey thinks the World Cup could benefit Entain ( OTCPK:GMVHF ), as well as fellow European betting giants Kindred Group ( OTC:KNDGF ) and 888 Holdings ( OTCPK:EIHDF ). Analysts are also pointing to gains for MGM Resorts ( MGM ) and Caesars Entertainment ( CZR ) and their World Cup promotions seem timely. Bettson (OTC:BTSBF), Bet365 and Super Group’s (SGHC) Betway are among the smaller betting shops that could see big Q4 gains.
Outside of sports betting, Bank of America said Ambev SA (ABEV) usually sees a rise in beer sales during the World Cup, while Evercore ISI said it sees a significant change in Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) this quarter from the international competition. Anheuser-Busch InBev has had a rocky start to the World Cup after a last-minute decision to ban the sale of alcohol in stadiums in Qatar where the games will be played. However, this trade is only a small part of what will happen on BUD from the World Cup.
The winter World Cup season is expected to be good for retailer Marks & Spencer (OTCQX:MAKSF), but it could limit the number of people going to the UK supermarket and reduce directly to operators like JD Wetherspoon (OTCPK:JDWPF).
The cryptocurrency market is looking to make some positive noise from the World Cup after a few scary weeks after the fall of FTX. Marketing that includes gaming tokens, Web3, non-token-powered gaming, popular NFT integrations and metaverse worlds will be seen. Roblox (RBLX) and Binance are both expected to be on the World Cup show.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo thinks that the special time of the World Cup around the holidays is well prepared for Electronic Arts (EA) and the FIFA videogame release. On reflection, the company thinks that one of the best winners of the World Cup could be the country of Qatar itself. The event is seen as having the potential to raise Qatar’s global profile and make the small country more economically involved going forward. Companies with ties to Qatar include JetBlue (JBLU), ConocoPhillps (COP), Exxon Mobil (XOM), and TotalEnergies (TTE). The iShares MSCI Qatar ETF (QAT) is up 3.67% year-to-date. Qatari banks are heavily represented in the ETF. View all ETF prices.
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