The combination of an Average People Pillar rating and a Below Average Process Pillar rating limit  VanEck Gaming ETF to a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral.  The strategy charges fees in line with its similarly distributed peers, priced within the middle quintile.  

 The strategy receives a Below Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an overweight in volatility exposure and an underweight in quality exposure compared with category peers. High volatility exposure is attributed to companies with a higher standard deviation of returns. And a low quality exposure is rooted in stocks with higher financial leverage and lower profitability. The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

Las Vegas Sands

Vici Properties

VanEck Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF

DraftKings

Evotec SE

MGM Resorts

Allstate

Wynn Resorts

Gaming and Leisure Properties

Churchill Downs

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category index on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. VanEck Gaming ETF earns a Below Average Process Pillar rating. The process is strengthened by tracking an index. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. However, the rating is held back by the fund's unremarkable long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process has struggled over that period. The parent firm's subpar risk-adjusted performance, as shown by its average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 2.6 stars, also detracts from the process. A lower star rating suggests that the firm has struggled to outperform on a risk-adjusted basis.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:  The investment seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Global Gaming Index.  The fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities that comprise the fund's benchmark index. To be initially eligible for the index, companies must generate at least 50% of their revenues from gaming. Gaming includes casinos and casino hotels, sports betting (including internet gambling and racetracks) and lottery services as well as gaming services, and gaming technology and gaming equipment. It is non-diversified. 

 The portfolio is overweight in real estate and consumer cyclical relative to the category average by 10.6 and 6.6 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are industrials and consumer defensive, underweight the average by 8.0 and 4.4 percentage points of assets, respectively. The strategy owns 34 securities and is quite concentrated. Specifically, 60.8% of the portfolio's assets are housed within the top 10 holdings, as opposed to the category average of 45.5%. And in closing, in terms of portfolio turnover, looking at year-over-year movements, 15% of the fund's holdings have turned over, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Below Average

Process

VanEck’s equity team is good but unexceptional, earning the strategy an Average People Pillar rating. There are two managers listed on the fund: Peter Liao, Griffin Driscoll. Together, they manage a total of 13 strategies, with a Silver asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating the potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

Average

People

VanEck’s ownership structure and specialization make it unique among industry peers. The firm’s founding family and namesake still have control, and its product lineup still reflects its legacy as a specialist in niche market segments. VanEck earns an Average Parent Pillar rating. 

Founded by John van Eck in 1955, the firm staked its claim in the industry by capitalizing on burgeoning markets. Starting with the opening of Western Europe to U.S.-based investors in the wake of the Marshall Plan, VanEck’s largest and most successful products provide exposure to areas of the market that are off the beaten path, such as hard assets, emerging-markets debt, and below-investment-grade-rated corporate debt.

Through its history, VanEck has taken an opportunistic approach to product development. For instance, since 2018, VanEck has launched strategies that provide exposures ranging from international REITs to companies involved in video game development. Regardless of where their reach takes them, however, VanEck builds a case that the strategy will be relevant over the long term and that its risks must be easy to understand. However, not all its products catch on, and the firm has shuttered several offerings in the last decade. 

VanEck remains a privately held firm, wholly owned by CEO Jan van Eck and his family. Although this enables the firm to focus on the long term and the firm offers some employees participation in profits, the firm hasn’t used equity as a recruiting and retention tool and introduces some key-person risk in the executive suite.

Parent

VanEck Vectors Gaming ETF

BJK tracks a market-cap-weighted index of global companies that generate at least 50% of revenues from gaming and related activities.

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VanEck announced today the 2023 annual distributions per share for its VanEck® equity exchange-traded funds.

VanEck Announces Year-End Distributions for VanEck Equity ETFs

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) reported third-quarter 2023 results, with earnings and revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

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With the 2023 NFL season underway, sports bets are surging. In fact, according to the Associated Press, GeoComply Solutions — used to verify a customer's location — said it recorded 242.3 million geolocation transactions from legal U.S. sportsbooks.

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BJK: Risk/Reward Profile Is Less Attractive Than Peers.

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52-week high summary: This gaming ETF hits a new 52-week high. Are more gains in store for this ETF?

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A U.S. F-22 fighter jet on Friday shot down an unidentified object flying high over Alaska. This happened a week after U.S. military brought down a Chinese spy balloon.

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NEW YORK--( BUSINESS WIRE )--VanEck announced today the following 2022 annual distributions per share for its VanEck® equity exchange-traded funds.

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BJK (and the broader gaming sector) has seen a surge of momentum in the short term. This suggests using this theme as a hedge against the S&P 500 continues to have merit. I would manage expectations by saying Casino/Consumer Discretionary themes could struggle if inflation continues and we enter a deep recession. So readers should approach cautiously.

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Share buybacks by S&P 500 member firms hit an all-time last year, and entering 2022, more of the same was expected this year. Amid rising interest rates and escalating recession fears, it remains to be seen just how much companies allocate to repurchase programs, but with the S&P 500 flirting with a bear market, corporations [.

Bet on BJK for Buybacks

Casino and gaming stocks, which make up BJK's portfolio, have been in a downward trend for most of the year. I believe this represents an opportunity. Last Vegas is seeing a resurgence, and that bodes well for other gambling hot spots around the country.

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There was a time when the legitimate betting industry centered almost exclusively around brick-and-mortar casinos, but times are changing, and those changes are ushering in some unique opportunities for long-term investors. Among exchange traded funds, the VanEck Vectors Gaming ETF (BJK) is one of the premier avenues with which to play the evolution of the [.

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Gambling sector-related exchange traded fund stood out from the pack on Friday, with Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Wynn Resorts (WYNN) surging, after Macau clarified rules on casino licensing. The VanEck Vectors Gaming ETF (NasdaqGM: BJK) increased 1.6% on Friday.

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BJK was a loser in 2021, and I'm not entirely optimistic for it in 2022 either.

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News for VanEck Vectors Gaming ETF ETF (BJK)