Catena Media CEO Manuel Stan has stated the affiliate will continue to support the regulation of sweepstakes due to it being “favourable for the long-term” sustainability of the industry.
In February, Stan claimed sweepstakes was a “future term, bullet-proof” strategy to build the brand, despite increasing regulatory scrutiny in several US states.
As of the start of May, New York, Louisiana and Connecticut were all looking to ban the vertical.
Speaking on Catena Media’s Q1 2025 results investor call, the CEO was asked for an update on where the firm stood regarding the sweepstakes.
Stan reiterated the firm’s earlier comments, backing the need for regulation, while confirming the affiliate was no longer operating in states where sweepstakes were deemed illegal.
The CEO said: “There is obviously some regulatory movement in terms of sweepstakes. We have seen some of the states sending cease-and-desist letters to some of the operators in those states.
“As previously communicated, we are definitely supporting regulation in the casino segment and this is favourable for the long-term industry sustainability.
“We are not operating in any of the states where sweeps are clearly not legal. So we’ve exited states where we had to and we continue operate in the states where we can operate.
“However, as communicated previously, sweeps is a segment of the casino segment, and we want to best position ourselves for the long-term regulation of the casino segment by continuing to build our brands and databases. So that remains a key focus for us.”
Stan added that the firm aimed to be the “forefront player” of the vertical, before noting that continued effort will go into investing in the casino segment.
He said: “As communicated in the previous reports as well as in this report, CRM is one of the areas where we continue to invest, and we see very good progress quarter-on-quarter.
“We’ll continue to do that. And a lot of effort in that CRM part is put into the casino vertical in states that are yet to regulate online casino, but they currently offer sweepstakes. I think that remains our strategy for that segment.”
On the affiliate’s future, when it pertains to prediction markets, the CEO was asked if these were a future monetisation opportunity for the Malta-based affiliate.
In response, he stated: “I think it’s a new vertical that obviously we’re embracing. We do not have any position in terms of how that will develop but, for the time being, we’re trying to monetise that part of the industry and be one of the forefront players in anything to do with this kind of market.”
Financially, Catena Media reported Q1 group revenue had slumped 39% year on year (YoY) to €9.8m (£8.2m), with North America revenue falling by the same percentage YoY to €8.8m.
Rest of the world revenue for the quarter fell 37% YoY to €1m.
Breaking Catena’s operations down by vertical, casino revenue fell 22% YoY to €7.6m, having stood at €9.8m in Q1 2024, while sports betting revenue saw a 64% YoY slump to €2.2m.
On the sports betting revenue figure, it was noted by the affiliate that the “absence of any [North America] state launch created difficult comparables with Q1 last year, when North Carolina legalised online sports betting”.
Adjusted EBITDA stood at €900,000, falling 51% YoY from €1.9m the year prior.
New depositing customers (NDC) halved from 44,077 in Q1 2024 to 21,918 in Q1 2025.
Elsewhere, Catena Media announced another round of redundancies, with the affiliate claiming the decision to let go of more than 50 staff was made as part of cost optimisation measures, with the removal of “one management layer to speed internal agility”.
The post Catena Media CEO reiterates support for sweepstakes regulation first appeared on EGR Intel.
Manuel Stan claims vertical is a “key focus” for the Malta-based affiliate, amid aims to become a prominent player in the segment
The post Catena Media CEO reiterates support for sweepstakes regulation first appeared on EGR Intel.