As the U.S. industry headlines have been dominated by the rise of sweepstake casinos over the last 18 months, further interest has built around the growth and potential of the sector. Despite legal and regulatory uncertainty, stakeholders sniff out an opportunity as consumer interest in the vertical scales.
Amid this, SBC Americas chatted to Anton Thoresson, account management team lead at Leadstar Media, who assesses how the affiliate is approaching the sweepstake vertical.
Thoresson also touches on the lay of the landscape in the U.S. after what has been a turbulent year for the sector.
SBC Americas: The last 12 months have been particularly tough for affiliates in the U.S., but Leadstar Media still goes strong. How have you navigated these tricky waters to still be a successful affiliate in the U.S. in 2025?
Anton Thoresson: I believe a lot of our success can be credited with the overall company objective and focus that we have. Our vision is to become the leading sports betting affiliate and in everything we do we have a laser focus in providing the greatest answer possible to users who come to our sites. There have been a lot of different trends within affiliation in the past years, but we have always kept a strategy which we believe will pay off in the long-run and have always put the visitor of our sites at the center of all that we do.
SBC Americas: Operationally, what is Leadstar Media focusing on in the U.S. and how are you attracting players to gain more FTDs?
AT: Our focus very much remains the same as it has been the past years, although we have entered into the rapidly growing sweepstakes casino vertical and are of course exploring new ways of providing the best answer, in order to be in line with the market overall that is constantly developing. Another focus is also to constantly optimise conversion on site, and to the operators, but also to attract visitors by offering something unique and something better which they won’t find elsewhere.
SBC Americas: The 2025 legislative session has not yielded much success in terms of new state launches so how can affiliates chase new growth given this stagnant backdrop?
AT: The sweepstakes casino vertical has obviously created one avenue of growth for many, and ourselves included. However, the U.S. market is still very much in its beginning, which is easy to forget since there has not been many developments with new state launches, but all figures are pointing towards continued growth in the current states. If more state launches also are being added to that, I have no doubt that the U.S. market will continue to expand in the long-run.
SBC Americas: One of the biggest trends and storylines in 2025 so far has been the continued emergence of sweepstakes casinos? What role, if any, do affiliates have to play in this arena?
AT: With the vertical booming there is ever so much the need for third party sites like ourselves to gather information, reviews and options in one place in order to make everything as understandable as possible for the potential players. With a market and vertical having quite low barriers of entry there is a plethora of operators to choose from, and new ones are launching on a weekly basis it feels like. This makes our service and offering even more so important in educating and being informative about the many different options that are available.
SBC Americas: There’s certainly plenty of regulatory attention on sweepstakes at the moment so how do you navigate that pressure?
AT: We follow the regulatory landscape very closely through several different sources. There’s been a trend lately that more and more states are restricting sweepstakes casinos and it is still for us very uncertain in which direction this will develop. The feeling of uncertainty is there for everyone I believe, and the best we can do at the moment is to keep up with any changes and of course to follow the regulations. However, the regulations around sweepstakes in general is a very complex one, and considering that, I do not believe that we will see too many changes in the next couple of years.
SBC Americas: Leadstar Media will be at SBC Summit Americas in May. What can attendees expect to see from you in Fort Lauderdale?
AT: Yes we will! Myself and my colleagues Patrick and Ian who are working with our flagship U.S. products Sportsbooksonline.com and Unitedgamblers.com will be in Fort Lauderdale throughout the whole week of SBC Summit Americas. Attendees can expect three very busy guys who will make everything out of the time we are there, by meeting and speaking to as many people as we possibly can. The best conversations are those which are face-to-face so that is where our focus will be.
SBC Americas: What are your core objectives for the show and what conversations are you expecting to have?
AT: As a company based in Europe we do not get many opportunities to meet most of our North American partners, so our objective is very much to deepen our relationship with operators within all verticals and try to meet as many existing and potential new partners as possible.
One other core objective we will have is to get an even better feel of where things are heading, whether that is in terms of regulations, state launches, sweepstakes, new product offerings or other we will see. But in order for us to be the best at what we do we need to have the best feeling of what potential visitors are looking for now, but also what they might be looking for in the future.
SBC Americas: What can we expect to see from Leadstar Media in the U.S. throughout the rest of 2025?
AT: We are looking into product features which entails us creating a deeper relationship with visitors on our sites and to make our offering even better. We still see a lot of potential in the U.S. market, whether that is within sports, casino or sweepstakes and we will continue to invest and work towards becoming the market leader within our niche. Of course competition in the U.S. is tough, but we very much believe that our knowledge, people and laser-focus will get us to that top position.
