By Liz Benston · January 21, 2008 · 3:53 PM

Gambling stocks are looking like more of a gamble lately.

Investing in gaming and casino stocks has always been somewhat of a roller-coaster ride given how this headline-grabbing industry has attracted hedge funds and short-term traders quick to buy and dump shares on a whim.

Lately, the passion for gaming stocks have been quick to flower -- and sour.

A few months ago, casino stocks were hitting new highs on bullish forecasts out of Macau, which is building an Asian Las Vegas Strip in one tenth of the time. But some lost 30 to 50 percent of their value when Macau gaming revenue -- 40 to 50 percent ahead of a year ago -- fell short of Wall Street expectations. Lately, the bears are piling on about the economy and consumer spending.

Some of the analysts whose bullish forecasts fueled last year's Macau backlash now say that gaming stocks are a good buy.

Not Jim Cramer, the loud-mouthed host of CNBC's "Mad Money."

Cramer last week advised investors to dump their gaming stocks "before they lose you even more money." Cramer cited high gas prices, overbuilding in Las Vegas and deteriorating real estate prices, which have been supporting casino stocks.

While many of these fears have come and gone without much hurt to the gaming sector, land prices are more of an unknown.

There's little evidence so far that real estate prices on the Strip -- which rose last year even as the housing market sunk -- are dropping. That would be a logical next step given that financing new resorts has become increasingly difficult. Land, after all, is valued based on what companies can build on it.

Then again, Las Vegas is attracting ever-richer developers, including foreign conglomerates, willing to risk more of their own money.