Founded in March 2024, Casino Reports is a website dedicated to covering the regulated U.S. online casino and iGaming industry, with news, features, and original reporting on industry happenings, business, legislation, and regulations.
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Dr. AJ Moore is a professor of Sports Media at Rider University. He is also a VSiN contributor that analyzes futures markets and handicaps college basketball and football. Moore’s past work also includes writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, and Basketball Times magazine. He is on X @pubrelationprof
Brant James is a staff writer who covers the sports betting industry at InGame, from technology to trends to legislation. An alum of the Tampa Bay Times, ESPN.com, espnW, SI.com, and USA Today, he's covered motorsports and the NHL as beats. He also once made a tail-hook landing on an aircraft carrier with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and rode to the top of Mt. Washington with Travis Pastrana. John Tortorella has yelled at him numerous times.
Smiley is a journalist and trained lawyer who in May 2017 co-founded the sports betting industry publication Sports Handle, which he continued to lead after the site’s acquisition by Better Collective in June 2019, until August 2023. He covers the regulated iGaming and U.S. sports betting industries through the lens of a passionate sports bettor and DFS player.
Prior to that venture, Smiley served as a staff writer for FOX Sports and has contributed to publications including SI.com, New York Magazine, and ESPN, among others. Smiley is drawn to good stories and clean writing, and especially enjoys topics involving consumer protection and public policy. He is usually listening to music and does not make plans on Sunday in the fall due to his commitment to watching at least a part of nearly every NFL game.
Smiley currently serves as chief content officer and is a partner at Third Planet, LLC, which owns and operates the websites Casino Reports, Lottery Geeks, and Props.com.
You can reach him via email at brett@thirdplanet.us or bretts.37@signal on Signal
Brian Joseph is a Las Vegas-based contributing writer covering gaming news in Nevada and California, the latter where he once served as the Sacramento bureau chief for the Orange County Register. Brian is the author of 'Vegas Concierge: Sex Trafficking, Hip Hop, and Corruption in America,' published by Rowman & Littlefield (now a part of Bloomsbury), a work of investigative reporting and narrative nonfiction that lays bare connections between Sin City and sexual exploitation. For Casino Reports and InGame.com, Brian also investigates the sports betting industry and the gambling sector at large.
Chris Altruda was a sportswriter with ESPN, The Associated Press, and STATS for more than two decades before turning to the gambling industry at Sports Handle in 2019. When not crunching sports betting revenue figures, he is usually listening to Iron Maiden, Lovebites, Hanabie., or Babymetal and exploring Chicago neighborhoods. His 'X' handle is @AlTruda73 and can be reached via email at chris.altruda@hotmail.com.
Christian Holmes is a multimedia journalist facilitating intimate one-on-one conversations with some of the most exciting personalities in sports, entertainment, and politics. His story about his lifelong love affair with hockey appeared in TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie and Jim Lang's book, "Everyday Hockey Heroes: Inspirational Stories On and Off The Ice."
If you want to stay in touch with Christian's work, follow him on Twitter @HolmesyWrites.
David is an online casino industry veteran who entered the space in 2005 -- first as a professional poker player and then as a writer, editor, podcast host, and head forum moderator. Over the past two decades, David has fulfilled a number of industry-related roles, including the in-depth research he currently performs as an online casino review expert.
David McKee is editor-in-chief of Casino Life Magazine and Sports Betting Operator, as well as a correspondent for CDC Gaming. His “Stiffs & Georges” column appears on LasVegasAdvisor.com. He lives in Augusta, Georgia, with his wife and their four cats.
Eric has been a professional editor and writer for more than 25 years, including nearly 20 years of experience covering the gambling industry. He was editor-in-chief of the poker magazine All In from 2005-2015 and managing editor and media director of the US Bets family of websites from 2018-2024.
His other gambling industry resume items include serving as senior content producer for Full Tilt Poker Academy in 2008-2009 and project editor for ESPN: The Magazine’s annual fantasy football guide in 2011. In 2014, Huntington Press published his book about the 2003 World Series of Poker, titled The Moneymaker Effect.
Eric has written for such outlets as Grantland, ESPN.com, Playboy, and Reader’s Digest, and since 2009 has hosted and produced audio podcasts for the likes of HBO and Showtime. He is a consistently profitable low-stakes online poker player and a mediocre sports bettor who has shown a small profit overall thanks purely to bonuses and boosts.
Eric is a senior editor at Casino Reports and Lottery Geeks. You can reach him via email eraskin@thirdplanet.us.
Erik has been involved in the gambling industry for over a decade. He specializes in covering news and offering analysis on the constantly changing ecosystem.
Evan Davis and Callan Charlesworth writes for Casino Reports.
Gene Johnson is Executive Vice President of Victor Strategies. Mr. Johnson has over 35 years of unique experience in the gaming industry that brings together technology, market research, strategic planning and analysis, and casino marketing, all framed through the lens of a customer perspective. Over the course of his career, starting in Atlantic City casinos, Gene has conducted market, feasibility, and consumer research for a broad array of clients. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, the Federal Trade Commission, and multiple state and tribal governments.
Jason Schaumburg is a former newspaper editor who has spent more than half a decade in the gaming industry, including covering the US sports betting and online casino industries for the past two-plus years. He also spent nearly four years as the communications director at the Illinois Lottery. Jason graduated from Northern Illinois University.
Jeff Edelstein is a longtime columnist, reporter, radio host, and fantasy sports aficionado, not necessarily in that order. He lives in New Jersey with his family.
Jill has covered everything from steeplechase to the NFL and then some during a more than 30-year career in sports journalism. The highlight of her career was covering Oakland Raiders during the Charles Woodson/Jon Gruden era, including the infamous “Snow Bowl” and the Raiders’ 2003 trip to Super Bowl XXXVII. Her specialty these days is covering sports betting legislation across the country.
John Brennan has covered NJ and NY sports business and gaming since 2002 and was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 2008, while reporting for The Bergen County Record.
Josh Pearl is an independent gaming consultant assisting various suppliers and operators. Previously he served as the senior director of new markets & strategic initiatives at Penn Interactive from 2016-2023.
Kathy Urban is an award-winning writer, producer and communicator who specializes in sports news and healthcare research.
Laura is an experienced writer specializing in iGaming and brick-and-mortar casinos. With years of experience covering Europe and North America, Laura is a go-to source for breaking news and gambling industry updates. Laura's favorite part of the job is talking to and writing about the actual people behind the stories.
Lucie is a content specialist with extensive expertise in the iGaming and Sports betting industries. With a strong background in PR and Marketing Communications, she excels at crafting engaging casino and slot reviews that resonate with players. Lucie is an avid slot player, and her talent for translating complex gaming concepts into accessible, search-optimized content has established her as a valuable professional in the competitive iGaming landscape.
A professional writer for over a decade, Mark Jenner draws on a background shaped by years of strategic thinking and risk analysis. Before turning to writing, he spent many years immersed in the world of poker — grinding cash games, studying tournament strategy, and treating the game as a serious, long-term pursuit.
He also ran betting systems on Betfair, backing and laying across a range of sports to find consistent value. To reduce risk and lock in profits, he would arb across multiple sportsbooks and take advantage of live in-game market swings — always looking for angles others missed.
These days, his main focus is BBQ. He runs a website dedicated to it, barbecues several times a week, and can usually be found outside with the smoker going, sports on the outdoor TV, and a cold beer in hand. He’s still a keen sports fan and bets recreationally multiple times a week, usually eking out a small profit.
Matt is a veteran writer with a specific focus on the emerging sports gambling and iGaming markets. During Matt's two decade career in journalism, he has written for the New York Times, Forbes, The Guardian, Reuters and CBSSports.com among others. In his spare time, Matt is an avid reader, a weekend tennis player and a frequent embarrassment to the sport of running.
Matthew Bain has covered the legal gambling landscape in the US since 2022, both as a content director at Catena Media and now as a freelancer for Casino Reports. Before that, he spent six years as a sports reporter and editor for the USA TODAY Network, primarily at the Des Moines Register. Through his various roles, Matthew has racked up experience in the casino, sports betting, and lottery markets.
Career journalist Mike Tierney has served as an editor and writer for the St. Petersburg Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and CBS Sportsline, with a recent focus on sports betting. He is knee-deep in writing his second teen sports fiction book. He resides in Sherman Oaks, Ca., where he cheers on the JV basketball players whom he coaches and the racehorses whom he partly owns.
Mitch Malherbe is a Dallas, Texas-based social media content creator who runs Casino Collective on X and Instagram. His enthusiasm for casinos and the gaming industry began in college when he would travel throughout the Southwest as an advantage Blackjack player and document his travels via social media. He has now visited over 500 casinos and written about and photographed each of them.
Richard Schuetz entered the gaming industry working nights as a blackjack and dice dealer while attending college and has since served in many capacities within the industry, including operations, finance, and marketing. He has held senior executive positions up to and including CEO in jurisdictions across the United States, including the gaming markets of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno/Tahoe, Laughlin, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In addition, he has consulted and taught around the globe and served as a member of the California Gambling Control Commission and Executive Director of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission. He also publishes extensively on gaming, gaming regulation, diversity, and gaming history.
Robert DellaFave ran the Advantage Gambling circuit before settling in as an online poker and casino writer in 2008. In 2012 he scored a role with Online Poker Report, first as a writer, then as an editor, eventually graduating to the rank of Managing Editor in 2014.
Robert co-founded the US Bets network in 2017 and held the role of Content Director from 2017-2020. He successfully exited the company following its acquisition by Better Collective.
Throughout his career, Robert has provided in-depth industry analysis for outlets like Eilers & Krejcik, PokerScout, and SportsHandle. With the emergence of sweepstakes and sports betting sites, Robert is back to advantage gambling and freelance consulting, providing expert takes on the quickly evolving US gambling industry.
Ron Fritz has written and edited casino and sports betting content for gambling websites for the past five years after a long career in newspapers. He joined Gambling.com Group in 2019, helping oversee news coverage on its top websites before moving to the states team and assisting in the launch of websites covering legal and regulated gambling. Fritz began working with Catena Media in Fall 2022 as a freelance writer before becoming managing editor of PlayUSA. An Ohio native and Bowling Green State University graduate, Fritz was an editor at the York (Pennsylvania.) Daily Record, Wilmington (Delaware) Journal and Baltimore Sun, producing award-winning news and sports sections.
Sam Davies is a freelance journalist who writes about music, film, sport, fashion and culture. His writing has been published by the BBC, Guardian, Financial Times, Conde Nast, Rolling Stone, Vice, Dazed and many more.
Scott Longley has been a journalist since the early noughties covering personal finance, sport and gambling. He has worked for a number of publications including Investment Week, Bloomberg Money, Football First, eGaming Review and Gambling Compliance.
Steve is a highly respected and oft-cited voice in the legal online gambling space. Steve is an analyst and consultant and the publisher of the Straight to the Point newsletter.
Steven Melendez is an independent journalist based in Chicago. He has more than a decade of experience covering the business and technology sectors for a wide range of publications and holds a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
Susan Hensel, Co-Founder & Partner, Hensel Grad, P.C. writes for Casino Reports.
Ted is the Evergreen Content Manager for Casino Reports. He has been writing about the gambling industry for over five years. His favorite casino games are video poker, blackjack, and slots. Ted lives outside Seattle and occasionally heads to the tribal casino to play video poker and wager on his beloved Seattle sports teams.
Todd Shriber got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long/short hedge fund where he specialized in trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He’s been covering the gaming industry since 2019 with an emphasis on financial issues. He lives in Las Vegas.
Tom focuses in the practice areas of government relations and public-facing litigation. With over 40 years’ experience as an Emmy award-winning journalist, political strategist, lobbyist, and attorney, Tom is especially adept when conflict resolution requires awareness of policy, politics, and the press.
Ziv has worked in the gaming and sports betting industry for over two decades before his passion for writing and journalism finally took over, and made him pursue a full-time writing career in 2019. In his capacity as an industry journalist, he covers casino, sports betting, iGaming and lottery news. Having worked for game development companies for many years, Ziv is always on the lookout for the new, and most exciting slot machine, especially the progressive jackpot titles.
As a graduate of University of Maryland and University of Pittsburgh, Ziv follows closely the college football and basketball teams from both schools. But when it comes to major league sports, his heart lies in Pittsburgh.
