Catena Media CEO dubs sweepstakes a “massive opportunity” despite regulatory pressure 

Catena Media CEO Manuel Stan has claimed that leaning into the sweepstakes casino sector is a “future term, bulletproof” strategy to build the brand. 

Despite the vertical being under increasing regulatory scrutiny from some US states, Stan has heralded the sweepstakes casino market as a “massive opportunity” for the affiliate. 

While Catena did not isolate the revenue amassed from sweepstakes specifically, given it falls under the casino vertical, the entire casino segment contributed €7.6m (£6.3m) of the firm’s reported top-line figure of €10.2m for Q4 2024. 

Last month, Mississippi Senator Joey Fillingane submitted Senate Bill 2150, which would look to ban online, interactive or computerised online sweepstakes casinos in the Magnolia State. 

Fillingane’s measure noted: “The offering for play or operating an online or interactive platform that offers for play such games within the State of Mississippi shall be deemed unlawful.” 

Mississippi is just the latest state to propose such measures, alongside continuing calls for stricter sweepstakes regulations across the US as key figures within the industry take aim at the vertical, such as Sports Betting Alliance president Jeremy Kudon who, back in October, described sweepstakes as a “pandemic”. 

However, as things stand, just two US states in Washington and Michigan have fully banned sweepstake casinos from their respective regulated markets.  

In turn, while speaking on an analyst call today, 11 February, Stan issued an assessment on how impactful sweepstakes continue to prove to be for Catena. 

“From a performance perspective, sweeps continue to grow,” the Catena CEO explained. 

“We’re looking at it as the overall casino segment and, as we have communicated previously, for us sweeps are an immediate strategy but also future term, bullet-proof for the casino segment, trying to build our brand and our database for states that are yet to regulate. 

“When you reiterate the fact that only 16% of the US population lives in states where casino regulation is already in place, there’s a future massive opportunity.  

“Sweeps represents the gateway for us to put ourselves in the best possible position for when that happens, so we’ll continue to invest, and we continue to grow the sweeps segment.” 

When pressed for comment on the increasing regulatory pressure surrounding sweepstakes, Stan was bullish in his response.   

“I think we continue to see some pressure from some of the states, but so far we haven’t seen any of the bigger states doing anything or taking any action,” the CEO said. 

“For the time being, we’re still in a very good position and we’ll continue to monitor that. We haven’t seen anything significant to put us in a position that we need to be concerned about the future of sweepstakes.” 

The Catena chief also addressed the fact the company is seeing increased competition from other affiliates entering the market. 

He claimed that the lack of new US states legalising sports betting or online gaming has resulted in greater competition between affiliates, all of which are now focusing on the same markets. 

However, Stan issued a confident assessment of the firm’s future, despite the increasing competition. 

“I think we have very strong products that have unfortunately underperformed for a number of quarters, but with the right strategy and the right structure, I think we can position those products to be leading products in the market,” he added. 

“I think we have some really great assets, including Bonus.com [and] PlayUSA, and with the right strategy and right initiatives in place, I’m highly confident that this year we can return to growth.” 

Stan’s comments came shortly after the release of Catena’s Q4 and full-year 2024 results.  

Alongside the aforementioned revenue total, Catena posted adjusted EBITDA of €1.5m, representing a marginal 2% year-on-year (YoY) uptick.