RRR - Why Red Rock Resorts Eldorado Resorts and Penn National Gaming Rose 10% or More Today
Shares of casino operator Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) rose nearly 16% by midday Wall Street time on May 19. Red Rock Resorts (NASDAQ: RRR) jumped 12.8%. And Eldorado Resorts (NASDAQ: ERI) advanced 12.5%. Although all three pulled back from those advances, they were up roughly 12%, 11%, and 10% at around 1:30 p.m. EDT. The uptick today was notable, but is really just a continuation of a trend over the previous week or so.
The government's efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 have involved asking people to practice social distancing and forcing the closure of non-essential businesses. This is a terrible set of circumstances for a casino operator to deal with. Casinos are, at their very core, places for people to congregate in large numbers so they can spend money on things that are non-essential. With facilities shutting down and customers staying home, the end of the first quarter was anything but kind to casino operators.
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