About Us – PlayUSA.com
PlayUSA.com provides reliable, trustworthy content and resources regarding the legal gambling industry, with a focus on the United States. You can read about our editorial guidelines here.
PlayUSA is one of the Play-branded sites in the Catena Media network. PlayUSA is an independently owned and operated commercial organization and not directly affiliated with any one casino or gaming website. You can read about our review process here.
Our mission: To provide news and information regarding legal and regulated online gambling in the United States.
Contact us
Catena Media US, Inc.
8565 S. Eastern Avenue, Suite 150
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702-941-6632
Meet the PlayUSA news team
Alex Weldon, Managing Editor
Alex Weldon is the Editorial Manager for news at PlayUSA, as well as for other Catena Media sites.
He’s a former semiprofessional poker player and has been writing about online gambling professionally since 2014. Prior to his current position, he was Managing Editor at Online Poker Report and, before that, the GameIntel Poker Update, a subscription newsletter for industry executives.
Alex provides news and analysis on the regulated online casino and poker industries in the US, with an emphasis on legislation, regulation, responsible gambling and business strategy.
Drew Ellis, Assistant Managing Editor 
A member of Catena Media since 2020, Drew Ellis has spearheaded news content at PlayMichigan and PlayiLottery. He also has experience covering the gambling industries in Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Canada. Decades of media experience provide him with the background to handle complex laws and policies around the country and the expansion of online gambling in the US.
Before working for Catena Media, Drew spent more than 20 years in the newspaper industry, covering sports and gambling. His work for the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun and the Oakland Press was recognized with awards by the Associated Press and other media organizations. He has also contributed to the Detroit Free Press and the Associated Press, and he currently contributes to All Lions—the Sports Illustrated home of the Detroit Lions.
Derek Helling, staff writer
Derek Helling is a staff writer for PlayUSA. He broke into covering the legal gambling industry in North America in 2018 while PASPA still existed
and the only reason anyone knew anything about the Federal Wire Act of 1961 was that Robert F. Kennedy made a big deal of it when he was JFK’s attorney general.
Within a broader scope of gaming, Helling focuses on reporting on breaking news plus legislation and litigation happening in the industry. He loves to read hundreds of pages of a gambling bill or lawsuit so his audience doesn’t have to.
Prior to moving into covering gambling, Helling covered the business and legal aspects of sports for publications like FanSided’s flagship site, Ozy, and other Catena Media sites. Helling completed his journalism degree at the University of Iowa.
J.R. Duren, writer
J.R. Duren is an award-winning journalist and long-time editor. Indeed, he has more than a decade of experience in journalism, both print and online.
J.R. has covered the gambling beats for more than a dozen states for Catena Media since 2015. His work has also appeared in numerous publications, such as CNN, the Villages Daily Sun, Barcelona Metropolitan, and Credible.
J.R. has a deep understanding of financial topics, and he is able to distill complex ideas related to money into engaging and easily-understandable articles.
Tebearau Egbe, Writer
Tebearau Egbe is a seasoned gambling writer with more than four years of experience. Her previous roles include contributor for Esportbet, Bettingplanet, Onlinecasino, and several other publications.
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State and a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, Egbe possesses a unique ability to dissect complex industry developments, distilling them into insightful narratives that captivate readers.
Based in Lagos, Nigeria, she enjoys good laughter with friends when she’s not chasing the latest casino developments or delving into the intricacies of the betting world.
Hill Kerby, Writer
Hill Kerby has been involved in the gaming industry for more than 5 years. That started with one of his intense passions: poker (and online poker). However, since then, he has also developed a love for all verticals within online gaming, and he now writes about sports betting, icasinos, social casinos, horse betting, and ilottery in addition to his poker coverage.
Hill has a background in psychology, which gives him an ability to offer rare insights and analysis in his writing.
Hill is a proponent of safe, legal betting and is grateful to be able to contribute to growing the industry.
Meet the PlayUSA content team
Joe Boozell, Editorial Manager
Joe Boozell is the Editorial Manager for PlayUSA, Bonus.com, and several other high-profile sites. He makes sure the entire content process is running smoothly and covering the most relevant information for readers.
Joe started covering the US online gambling industry in 2020, serving as the Lead Writer for PlayIllinois. Then, he oversaw content strategy for PlayPennsylvania, PlayMichigan and PlayCanada, focusing on evergreen online casino content for all three sites.
Before that, Joe spent five years at Turner Sports as a writer and editor for NCAA.com, NBA.com and PGA.com. He graduated from Butler University with a journalism degree in 2015. Joe has lived in Chicago for the last seven years.
Chance Solem-Pfeifer, content editor
Chance Solem-Pfeifer is an editor, arts journalist, broadcaster, and educator based on the Oregon Coast. He started his work in the online gambling industry at Catena Media in 2016, serving as a copyeditor and content editor. In his current role at PlayUSA, he focuses largely on the site’s review pages, ensuring that they are consistently accurate with the latest information.
Chance is also a member of the Portland Critics Association and contributes journalism and criticism to Willamette Week and The Playlist, while helping young writers hone their skills in grammar and rhetoric with Writing Coaches of America.
Chance’s work has also appeared via The Daily Astorian, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Paste Magazine and Vulture, among other outlets. He holds a creative writing degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he served as an editor for The Daily Nebraskan and HearNebraska.org.
Jared Daigle, content editor
Jared Daigle is a Content Editor at PlayUSA, continually double-checking that all information presented on the site is accurate and helpful to the reader.
Jared joined Catena Media in 2021, where he has worked on managing content across a vast array of websites (including Bonus.com, PlayUSA, PlayiLottery, Gaming Today, and Legal Sports Report), each covering various regions and various igaming verticals.
Martin Green, writer
Martin Green has been writing about casino and poker industry since 2014. He has written for variety of publications such as USA Today, the Miami Herald, Detroit Free Press, Kansas City Star, Gambling.com, Bookies.com, RealGM, Sportsbook Review, The Independent and more.
Green holds an English bachelors degree, a masters in creative writing, and a postgraduate in journalism.
Cole Rush, writer
Cole Rush spent six years with Scientific Games (formerly WMS Gaming) before venturing out on his own and becoming a full-time writer in the gambling space.
A Chicago native, he enjoys writing about the intricacies of online casinos, underappreciated casino games, and gambling’s relationship with pop culture.
Media
If you are a member of the media, welcome! Thank you for visiting PlayUSA as a potential resource. Visit our media inquires page to assist you in your research and address any inquiries. We have a team of experts at the national and regional levels to assist.
If you want to learn more about how we can help you, please contact press@catenamedia.com.
Our Play network
PlayUSA is one of many sites under the Play brand. If you’re looking for information on a specific state, you are sure to find it on one of the individual state sites below. Each team is an expert in their state, providing monthly revenue reports and covering the latest industry news/developments.
