Gaming stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) took it on the chin in the recession, thanks to a host of fundamentals teaming up to wound the industry. Now that things are looking up, though, will it be gaming’s day again soon?

There was no “fun” in the fundamentals for the gaming industry: for the most part, many consumers lost their excess spending money that would have otherwise been spent gaming. Financing for expansion also dried up, raising the specter of defaults on multibillion-dollar projects.

Alan Farley for TheStreet questions the recent drought among hedge fund investors as well. Those investors who had the most excess cash are no more and all fish, big and small, have lost the wealth they once knew.

Farley suggests that a third-quarter bounce is long overdue. The sideways pattern we have seen since the recovery pattern in March can lead the gaming and Las Vegas scene at large in a better direction. As a word of caution, all mega resorts are trading below the 200-day moving average for now. Thanks to diversity within the ETF, though, investors can get a cross-section of the gaming industry – there’s more to it than the big resorts in Vegas.

• Market Vectors Gaming ETF (BJK): up 14.7% year-to-date

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Tags: BJK, Leisure & Entertainment, Sector ETFs