PlayTexas is your resource for the latest Texas gambling information. We keep up with the various legislative pushes for casino gambling, sports betting, poker, and other forms of wagering. We also provide comprehensive information about the types of legal gambling currently available in the state, including the Texas Lottery and the state’s horse tracks.
This page tells you who we are, how we operate and what to do if you want to get in touch.
Contact us
Catena Media US, Inc.: 8565 S. Eastern Avenue, Ste 150, Las Vegas, NV 89123
646-543-0245
Who is PlayTexas?
Every person who writes for PlayTexas is either a full-time employee of Catena Media or a carefully-vetted freelance writer. We do not accept submissions from guest writers or publish any unsolicited external content.
Meet the team!
Contributor: Tyler Andrews
Tyler covers sports, sports law, and gambling in the Lone Star State. He has also covered similar topics for several of Catena Media’s regional sites, including NCSharp, PlayCA, PlayFL, PlayOhio, and PlayMA. Tyler specializes in covering gambling legislation and news in emerging US markets.
Contributor: Phil West
Phil West is a longtime journalist based in Austin, Texas, whose bylines have appeared in The Daily Dot, Nautilus, Pro Soccer USA, Howler, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Antonio Express-News, Austin American-Statesman, and Austin Chronicle. He has also written two books about soccer.
Contributor: Hill Kerby
Hill is a proponent of safe, legal betting, and is grateful to be able to contribute to growing the industry. He has a background in poker, sports, and psychology, all of which he incorporates into his writing.
Former Contributor: TJ McBride
T.J. is a writer and reporter based in Denver, Colorado who covers the Denver Nuggets as a beat writer. He contributes regularly to PlayTexas as well as other news websites owned by Catena Media. His byline can be found across many websites such as ESPN, FiveThirtyEight, Bleacher Report, and others.
Contributor: Tebearau Egbe
Tebearau covers sports betting beats at PlayTexas. 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, Tebearau possesses a unique ability to dissect complex industry developments. 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.
Contributor: Dan Holmes
Dan Holmes writes about casinos, sports betting, sports media, and gambling-focused legislative initiatives. He’s the author of three books and previously reported for Major League Baseball, as well as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Former Contributor: Darren Cooper
Darren Cooper was born and raised in Southern Louisiana, just a short pirogue ride away from New Orleans. He started his journalism career at the New Orleans Times-Picayune and has been a writer and columnist in New Jersey since 1998. He’s won 14 statewide press awards and earned his first Associated Press Sports Editors Top 10 award in 2022.
Former News Content Manager: Matthew Bain
Matthew Bain served as News Content Manager at Catena Media, overseeing news content for the network’s highest-priority regional sites, including PlayTexas. Before joining Catena Media in 2022, Matthew won 10 statewide and national journalism awards during six years as a reporter and editor for the USA TODAY Network.
Former Managing Editor: Jason Jarrett
Jason is a former managing editor for PlayTexas.com and other regional gambling sites at Catena Media, where he covered sports betting and gambling news. He has more than 25 years of journalism experience, spending nearly 10 years as a senior editor at the Austin American-Statesman.
What is PlayTexas?
PlayTexas is an affiliate news organization. We are part of a network of sites owned by Catena Media, an international publicly-traded firm that covers gambling on four continents. Catena also owns other state-specific sites, including for Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, and Ohio (among others).
Catena Media and PlayTexas are only interested in legal gambling options. While Texans have many gambling choices available to them right now, some of them exist in a legal limbo or are otherwise flatly illegal. Therefore you won’t find any information about gambling options of uncertain legality here. We also have no interest in covering offshore gambling sites that do not comply with US or state law.
We are an affiliate site along with being a news organization. That means you may see advertising from prominent gambling companies on our pages from time to time. These companies are our valued partners, but none of them maintain any kind of editorial control over the direction of our reporting or our content. We do not accept any paid advertisements and do not allow guest posting.
Our Mission Statement
PlayTexas covers the gambling industry and scene in Texas in an accurate and unbiased manner. Our reporting is strictly fact-based. We rarely offer our opinions or interpretations of the events as they happen, as those kinds of judgments are best left to readers.
We also seek to answer questions that Texans might have about legal gambling options and efforts to expand them. Across the country, gambling has been growing in visibility over the past few years. As a result, there is plenty of online supposition and guesswork regarding what is legal and what is not. If a visit to PlayTexas clears up any confusion you might be experiencing about gambling in the Lone Star State, we’ve done our job.
Finally, we seek to present you with the best bonus offers at legal online gambling sites. Many of our offers are exclusive to the Catena Media network.
Our Writing Process
When it comes to our writing process, our first step is to seek out primary sources for information about what is happening with various aspects of gambling in Texas. We receive notices, information, and comments from lawmakers, public officials, and relevant employees at the various gambling venues around the state. We also corroborate our information with government reports and court documents.
Anything we write is then subject to editing and review. We verify each fact, link, and statement for accuracy as well as grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Finally, the managing editor of PlayTexas looks through each story to provide further fact-checking and advice about any other necessary revisions.
Through that much review, it is quite rare for us to include any mistakes in our reporting. However, it does happen from time to time, and we have no interest in providing inaccurate information. Therefore, the third step in our process belongs to you. If you see something that doesn’t look correct, we absolutely want to hear from you about it. Our accuracy is paramount, and our egos are strong enough to handle correcting a mistake every now and again.
Do you want to write for PlayTexas?
Do you like to write? Do you live in or near Texas? If so, we want to hear from you!
PlayTexas is always looking to hire top writers who know a thing or two about gambling in the state. If you have been following the slow-moving (or non-moving) legislative process to expand legal gambling in the state or have any other special interest or insight regarding the Texas gambling industry, you might be right for the job.
If you want to explore a career with us, drop us a line. Make sure to include your experience and if possible links to your content or portfolio. Alternatively, you can also take a look at the Catena Media careers page and see if any open job speaks to you and your expertise.
Get in touch
If you are a member of the media, welcome. We’d be happy to help you in whatever way we can by sharing additional information or background, or by providing expert interviews or feedback to help you with your stories. For media inquiries, contact Andrew Champagne, Content Manager at Catena.
If you’re a reader and have something on your mind, let us know. We want to hear from you, no matter what it is. If you have heard about a possible Texas gambling story you think we should check out, tell us what it is. If you have a complaint, we’ll do our best to fix it. Of course, if you just want to tell us how much you’re enjoying your time on PlayTexas, we’ll accept that, too.