PlayUSA is the national site for a series of Play-branded news and informational sites in various states, such as PlayNJ.com, PlayPennsylvania.com, PlayNY.com, and nearly a dozen others.
PlayUSA and our affiliated sites have a simple focus: To provide readers with news and resources related to legal, regulated online gambling options in the United States. You can read more about our editorial guidelines here.
We are an independently owned and operated commercial organization and not directly affiliated with any one casino or gaming website.
Our mission
To provide news and information regarding legal and regulated online gambling in the United States
Contact Us
Catena Media
11700 W. Charleston BLVD #170 – 520
Las Vegas, NV 89135
USA
(646) 543-0245
PlayUSA Team
Editor: Emma Trotter
Emma worked as a Staff Writer and Editor at magazines in Las Vegas before shifting over to the corporate casino-hospitality industry, where she held positions as a Senior Editor at Caesars Entertainment and Brand Marketing Manager at Wynn Las Vegas. A UNLV Journalism graduate, Emma traded writing pieces on local and national high-profile figures to be a full-time news editor.
Editor and analyst: Dustin Gouker
Dustin Gouker is a leading sports betting and online gambling writer and analyst in the United States. He’s covered the industry to the early days of DraftKings and FanDuel to the rapid of expansion of online sports betting around the country and beyond. He has been a journalist in the sports and gambling industries for more than two decades.
Contributor: Brant James
Brant James has been soaked with champagne in the winning locker room after a World Series and a Stanley Cup final, walked – carefully – from the barn to the paddock with Kentucky Derby colts on the first Saturday in May and ridden in a rally car with Travis Pastrana up Mt. Washington. The tail-hook landing on an aircraft carrier might have topped them all. Including stops at ESPN, SI.com and USA Today, he’s covered everything from hockey to motorsports, and now, sports betting.
Contributor: Nicholaus Garcia
Nick Garcia is a raconteur, Chicago White Sox season ticket holder, and senior reporter based in Chicago, IL. He’s covered the emergence of legalized sports betting for over five years and has written numerous opinion, feature and analysis pieces centered around gambling. He’s a graduate of Texas Tech University and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago.
Contributor: Derek Helling
Derek Helling is a lead 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.
Contributor: Darren Cooper
Darren Cooper is a sports columnist and writer living in Northern New Jersey. It’s a long way from where he grew up next to Lake Pontchartrain outside of New Orleans. He earned his Broadcast Journalism degree from Louisiana State University in 1992 and moved to the Northeast in 1998. He married an editor and his sister is an editor, so his writing has been evaluated and corrected for as long as he can remember. He’s devoted to his three boys, Saints football and seeing as much of the world as he can.
Contributor: Martin Derbyshire
Martin Derbyshire has more than ten years of experience reporting on the poker, online gambling, and land-based casino industries for a variety of publications including Bluff Magazine, PokerNews, and PokerListings. He has traveled extensively, attending tournaments and interviewing major players in the gambling world.
Contributor: Katie Kohler
Katie Kohler is a Philadelphia-area-based award-winning journalist. She is the Managing Editor at PlayPennsylvania and covers the Pennsylvania gambling industry with an emphasis on sports betting, online casino/poker and the lottery.
Contributor: Bart Shirley
Bart Shirley is a writer and poker player from Houston, Texas. A former math teacher, Bart writes about the NJ online casino industry, US online gambling, and US online poker. He has a master’s degree in business administration from Texas Christian University and a degree in English from Texas A&M.
Contributor: Martin Harris
Martin Harris is a writer and teacher living in North Carolina who has reported on poker and gambling extensively for many outlets since the mid-2000s. He has a Ph.D. in English from Indiana University and has taught at colleges and universities for over 20 years, currently doing so part-time at UNC Charlotte. He is the author of multiple books including Poker & Pop Culture (2019), a history of poker in the US.
Contributor: Matthew Kredell
Matthew Kredell has written about the legalization and regulation of online gambling since 2007. A USC journalism graduate, Kredell made his first foray into sports betting legalization in 2010. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Daily News, Playboy, Men’s Journal, Los Angeles magazine, LA Weekly and ESPN.
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 or here. Each team is an expert in their state, providing monthly revenue reports, industry news and covering the latest developments.
Licensing
PlayUSA, along with the other sites in the Catena Media network, help to connect those interested in legal online gambling with legitimate gaming providers in their states. In order for us to do this, we undergo vendor licensing and registration requirements in every state where it is appropriate to do so.
Licensed as Registered Vendor (Catena Operations Ltd.)
- Arizona, #EW2000019 (Active as of August 23, 2021)
- Colorado, #94433550, Active as of May 22, 2020
- Indiana, SWR-000107, Active as of November 9, 2019
- Michigan, #007543, Active as of December 14, 2020
- New Jersey, #0089184, Active as of April 6, 2021
- Pennsylvania, No license number issued, Active as of April 4, 2019
- Tennessee, No license number issued, Active as of August 19, 2020
- Virginia, #100102, Active as of January 13, 2021
- West Virginia, SWS 037, Active as of August 14, 2020
PlayUSA also serves customers in Illinois and Iowa.
Media
If you are a member of the media, welcome! Thank you for visiting PlayUSA as a potential resource. We have assembled this 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 Zack Hall, our Media Relations Lead.
Careers
PlayUSA is growing! It seems like every month plays host to another gambling expansion in one of the 50 states. Since we are first and foremost a news organization, we always have something to write.
You can visit this page to learn more about available opportunities.