The Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) share price was a reasonably positive performer on Thursday.
The sports betting company's shares rose slightly to end the day at $13.50.
This means the PointsBet share price is now up 14% since the start of the year and has more than doubled over the last 12 months.
Why did the PointsBet share price pushing higher?
Investors were buying the company's shares yesterday after it announced a 10-year agreement with The Riverboat on-the-Potomac to provide online and retail sports wagering in the state of Maryland.
PointsBet USA CEO, Johnny Aitken, commented: "With terrific partners in The Riverboat on-the-Potomac, PointsBet is thrilled to begin the process toward offering the passionate, sports-loving community of Maryland with the fastest and most differentiated sports betting product across every customer touchpoint."
Is this good news?
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts were pleased with the news and have reiterated their buy rating and $17.20 price target on the company's shares.
Based on the current PointsBet share price, this implies potential upside of 17.5% over the next 12 months.
What did Goldman say?
Goldman Sachs commented: "We see today's announcement as another incremental positive for PBH and continue to see it as well positioned to carve out a slice of the burgeoning US sports betting market, and highlight its recent achievement of being named the US Sports Betting Operator of the year."
"With the addition of Maryland, PBH now has direct market access to 15 states in the US (17 including untethered states), placing it on track for its target of being operational in 18 US states by the end of CY22. With respect to the State of Maryland, we note that the government has noted that in-person betting should be up and running in a few months, whilst online sports betting is estimated to commence around Feb 2022. Sports betting revenues are expected to be taxed at 15%."
The broker believes the company has a billion-dollar (A$) opportunity in the state, making this a material new addition to its network.
It explained: "We highlight that Maryland is the 19th most populous state in the US, and as presented in our US sports betting TAM model, makes up c. 1.8% of the US population and c. 2% of US PCE. Within the context of our TAM model, the state is currently modeled as a Tier 2 State and accounts for ~US$ 900 mn at maturity towards our TAM."
