Publication Abstracts

The financial perfonnance of gaming stocks during the past year has been good to excellent and occasionally spectacular. As a group, the gaming stocks rose 49.9 percent. Major industry players with strong cash flows, nationally known franchises, and depth of management are positioned best to continue to increase in value as they expand into new locations, particular locations close to large population centers. Gaming is predicted to be a $48 billion industry by the year 2000, implying a 7 percent growth rate for the decade. In the late 1980's and early 1990's the gaming industry has rapidly expanded into nearly every state in the country. At the heart of the expansion is the change of the public's view to see gaming as an acceptable fonn of entertainment, the poor financial condition of most states, and the "domino effect." The domino effect occurs when adjacent states approve gaming because they are concerned that they are losing potential tax revenue across the state line.