About PlayCA

What is PlayCA?

PlayCA is an affiliate news site, part of the Catena Media network. Catena Media owns and operates dozens of sites throughout the country that cover all forms of legal gambling. The network includes both state-specific sites that focus their coverage on individual states (like PlayCA) and sites reporting on US gambling at the national level.

At PlayCA, we only cover legal gambling stories and issues, including legal online gambling sites. Gambling sites that operate without a license or legal authorization are not our concern, other than to warn readers about the obvious risks associated with such sites.

We have affiliate partnerships with several prominent gambling companies. As a result, advertisements for legal gambling options appear on our site pages. However, none of these companies have any editorial control or influence over the content at PlayCA. All of the stories we report and information we provide about California gambling are produced independently and without any input from affiliates. Additionally, we do not accept any paid advertisement offers or promotional requests from external sites, nor will we ever do so.

Our mission

Simply stated, our mission at PlayCA is to accurately cover all areas of California gambling, including casinos, card rooms, the lottery, horse racing, and efforts to legalize sports betting and other potential gambling expansion in the state.

PlayCA strives to improve the experience of all California gamblers by providing reliable reporting and expert analysis of current gambling news in California, as well as by offering the best available bonus offers for legal gambling options. We additionally aim to be a valuable resource of information to anyone seeking answers to questions about gambling in California, be they Californians looking for legal gambling options or other media members who are themselves reporting on gambling in the Golden State.

Who writes for PlayCA?

Our contributors here at PlayCA come from many different backgrounds, although all of our writers have experience and expertise both in the gambling industry and in journalism. Many have backgrounds as reporters writing for newspapers, magazines, websites and other outlets. Some have worked in casinos, sportsbooks, poker rooms or other gambling-related contexts. All have covered gambling news and/or sports for a variety of markets, both local and national.

Such outlets include ESPN, the Los Angeles Daily News, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Magazine and USA TODAY.

Our team includes avid sports fans and sports bettors, too, as well as handicappers and poker players. In other words, many of our writers themselves have firsthand experience with different forms of legal gambling in California.

Our process

Our editorial process is such that even though much of what appears at PlayCA might feature a single byline, nearly everything you read on the site has received input from multiple staff members.

The process begins with the editorial team collaborating to decide which stories to report on or what information to provide. From there, our writers routinely seek to support their articles with information from primary sources. They consult original legal documents, speak directly to lawmakers or gambling officials, and otherwise pursue firsthand, reliable information to share in their reporting. By these means, we seek to maintain high journalistic standards and avoid reporting questionable information and/or dubiously sourced gossip.

Every news article, review and informational page that appears on PlayCA then undergoes a thorough review process before being published on the site. Usually, multiple readers provide feedback during the revision process, with PlayCA’s managing editor, Connor Grootenhuis, reviewing each piece for accuracy and tone. Each article and page additionally receives careful proofreading for surface-level issues like spelling and grammar before we post it.

If you encounter any reporting or information here at PlayCA that you believe to be erroneous, don’t hesitate to let us know. We strive to present an objective, trustworthy record of California gambling, and we want to make corrections whenever necessary.

About the advertisements on PlayCA

Our funding comes via affiliate relationships with several legal online gambling sites. In some cases, when you visit an online sportsbook, a daily fantasy sports site, a casino or poker site, or another legal online gambling site, we may receive financial compensation. You may also occasionally see advertising from our partners appear on the site.

Our policy regarding advertising at PlayCA is simple:

• Advertisers have no say over the content at PlayCA.
• Our goal is to provide credible, objective information about legal gambling options — retail and online — in California and throughout the US. We believe that goal naturally produces the best and most constructive information for both customers and operators, and therefore for us as well as a business.

We clearly identify all advertisements or present them in a format that is widely recognized as advertising (e.g., banner ads).

Want to join PlayCA?

We here at PlayCA are always keeping an eye out to add new talent and expand our team of experts reporting on California gambling. Whether you are in California and have special insight and experience with CA gambling or you reside elsewhere and have similar expertise in other areas of the US, there could be opportunities at Catena Media for you.

If you are interested in joining our team, drop us a line. You can also visit our careers page to find out more about our current needs at Catena Media.

How to get in touch with us

PlayCA writers and our editorial staff are available to share their knowledge about legislation, sports betting, tribal casinos and card rooms, and anything else concerning legal gambling in California. For media inquiries, contact our communications team. For all other queries, you can email us here.