MediaTroopers Review
7.6/10The one agency in this lane whose trust rests on state gaming registers: 21 licenses on the current homepage count across the US regulated map, with the Pennsylvania GCB certification running to 07/25/2028 and Indiana sports wagering registration SWR-000116 live in the public rows, a tier-1 operator wall from BetMGM to DraftKings, and flat fee, CPA, or revenue share commercials, though there are no metric case studies, no published prices, and the scope stops at the US, Ontario, and Puerto Rico.
Our read
A tier-1 operator wall (BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365, PokerStars, Caesars and more) with DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Golden Nugget, and BetRivers press-named among over 60 customers in the 2021 Arizona announcement, on homepage counters of 61 advertisers and 128 brands, held back from higher because no case study carries metrics and the wall is logo class at best.
The whole proposition is US regulated online gambling acquisition, with the license stack itself as the product, fantasy and event wagering covered under the Arizona supplier license, and no non-gaming work on any surface.
A named, press-covered CEO in Shmulik Segal, a 45-plus team across four named functions, a single clean entity since 2019 with no renames or incident trails, and an orderly dated leadership change when co-founder COO Benjamin Truman stepped down in October 2023.
A dense 2020 to 2024 trade-press trail with every license announcement carried, plus SBC Summit North America 2024 as long-time sponsor and first-time exhibitor, with no award rows and the exhibitor trail carried by press rather than an organizer archive.
Media buying, paid search, paid social, affiliate program work, and owned affiliate assets make a coherent acquisition stack, but no creative studio, CRM, or retention depth is on the menu and no tooling is named publicly.
The license register layer is the hardest evidence in the lane, with numbers where published, but nothing commercial is disclosed: flat fee, CPA, and revenue share are named as models with no prices, minimums, or terms.
Methodology. Our own score, a weighted average of six dimensions, tilted toward case evidence and gaming specialization. Weighted on the media buying scale, where case evidence and named clients lead at 0.22, gaming specialization and team share 0.18 each, industry footprint carries 0.16, and service depth and commercial transparency close at 0.14 and 0.12, a mix that rewards a compliance layer sitting in state registers and a tier-1 client wall while pricing in the missing case metrics and the on-request commercials. Read the full methodology
- The hardest thing to fake in the agency category: state gaming registers rather than a self-published case library, with the Pennsylvania GCB Certified Gaming Service Provider row running to 07/25/2028, Indiana Sports Wagering Registrant SWR-000116, and a Colorado trail in 2023 commission minutes, under a current count of 21 licenses (13 supplier plus 6 ancillary) across 19 states.
- Every grant in the 2019 to 2024 arc is a passed state suitability review, the deepest third-party vetting this lane offers, accumulated in dated steps from New Jersey (2019) and West Virginia (permanent supplier license, 2021-03-01) through Arizona (2021), Maryland and Washington (2022), Puerto Rico (2023), and Maine (2024).
- Total gaming specialization: the entire proposition is planning, running, and optimizing acquisition for US regulated online gambling operators, with fantasy sports and event wagering covered under the Arizona supplier license and nothing outside the licensed lane on any surface.
- A tier-1 operator wall (BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365, PokerStars, BetRivers, Caesars, Golden Nugget, Betway, 888 and more), with DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Golden Nugget, and BetRivers press-named among over 60 customers in the 2021 Arizona announcement.
- Three commercial shapes are named, flat fee, CPA, and revenue share, with the rev-share model backed by a dedicated Pennsylvania revenue-share license (2022) and made real by the agency's own state-level casino-offer affiliate assets.
- No metric case studies anywhere: the operator wall is logo class at best and the 2021 press naming is the strongest client evidence there is, so a buyer gets suitability the states themselves signed off on, but no published performance proof behind the 12B+ ads served counter.
- The scope is also the boundary: US regulated states, Ontario, and Puerto Rico only, so an operator buying for the UK, Europe, Latin America, or any offshore market has nothing here.
- The commercial picture is entirely on request: flat fee, CPA, and revenue share are named as models but no prices, minimums, or terms are published, and no organizer-side award row exists to add a third-party quality signal on the media work itself.
US regulated sportsbook and casino operators that want paid acquisition run by a vendor already sitting on the state registers, especially when entering new states where agency-side suitability review would otherwise be the wait.
Operators targeting the UK, Europe, Latin America, or any offshore market, or buyers who need published case metrics and rate cards before a sales conversation.
Markets & licensing
This is the exception file in the marketing agency category. Nothing an agency does is licensable, so every other shop in this lane anchors its credibility in case libraries, award rows, and partner directories. MediaTroopers' trust layer is the state gaming registers, and the rows are there. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's approved certified vendors report (dated 2026-07-15) carries MediaTroopers, Inc., Philadelphia, PA 19103 as a Certified Gaming Service Provider for affiliate marketing service with the certification expiring 07/25/2028, and the register class matters: PA Certified is the deeper vetting tier, above Registered. The Indiana Gaming Commission's published list of sports wagering registrants carries MediaTroopers Inc. as SWR-000116, and the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission's 2023 public session minutes carry its licensing trail. Around those register rows sits a dated arc of grants: New Jersey as the first market in 2019, a West Virginia temporary supplier license in June 2020 turned permanent on 2021-03-01, the Arizona supplier license of September 2021 that enumerated 13 licensed jurisdictions, the Pennsylvania revenue-share license and the Maryland and Washington grants of 2022, Puerto Rico in July 2023, and the Maine affiliate license in February 2024. The current homepage resolves the stack to 21 licenses, 13 state supplier plus 6 ancillary, across 19 states, with operations in 11 more states and Ontario where affiliate-level licensing is not required. Every grant in that arc is a passed state suitability review, which is the deepest third-party vetting available to a marketing vendor.
The US regulated map is not a market MediaTroopers serves, it is the whole business: paid acquisition for licensed sportsbooks and casinos, run under the agency's own supplier and ancillary licenses. The Pennsylvania and Indiana rows are live in the public registers today, the 2019 to 2024 grant arc covers the major early-legalization states, and the client wall reads like the US operator top tier. An operator entering a newly regulated state gets a vendor that has already passed suitability review there or knows the process from a dozen prior filings.
The scope ends at the US regulated states, Ontario, and Puerto Rico, and no UK or European work appears on any surface. A UKGC operator only shortlists MediaTroopers for its US expansion, where the licensing stack is the draw, and looks elsewhere in this lane for anything targeting the UK or Europe.
- Certified Gaming Service ProviderPennsylvania (PGCB)
- Affiliate marketing service, the Certified class rather than Registered, for MediaTroopers, Inc., Philadelphia, PA 19103, on top of gaming service provider status held since 2019 and a revenue-share license announced April 2022 · Certification expires 07/25/2028 (approved certified vendors report dated 2026-07-15)
- Sports Wagering Registrant SWR-000116Indiana (Indiana Gaming Commission)
- Published sports wagering registrant row for MediaTroopers Inc. · Published registrant list updated 2024-09-12
- Licensing trail in commission minutesColorado (Limited Gaming Control Commission)
- MediaTroopers, Inc. appears in the commission's 2023 public session minutes · 2023 combined minutes
- Dated grant arc, 2019 through 2024NJ, WV, AZ, MD, WA, VA, PR, ME and the 2021 thirteen
- New Jersey since 2019, West Virginia permanent supplier 2021-03-01, Arizona supplier 2021-09-09 (enumerating NJ, PA, CO, IN, TN, IL, MI, Washington DC, WV, VA, IA, WY, AZ), Maryland 2022-06-14, Washington 2022-10, Virginia vendor license, Puerto Rico 2023-07, Maine affiliate 2024-02 · The agency's own dated announcements, each carried by trade press
Licensing tier: A buyer can verify this vendor the way no other agency in the category allows: the PGCB approved certified vendors report and the Indiana Gaming Commission registrant list are public documents, and both carry MediaTroopers rows today. The rest of the 21-license stack rests on dated grant announcements, each one trade-press carried, under the current homepage total of 13 supplier plus 6 ancillary licenses.
The per-jurisdiction list comes from the register rows and the agency's dated grant announcements, under the current homepage total of 21 licenses across 19 states (2026-07-16).
Everything outside the US regulated states, Ontario, and Puerto Rico is out of scope by positioning rather than by a restriction list: the licensed-only posture is the business model, not a disclaimer (2026-07-16).
Clients, partners & engagement
Agencies are judged on the accounts they already run and the platforms and registries they work through. The delivery model shows how the team is staffed day to day.
A licensed media buying engagement rather than a software integration: MediaTroopers runs paid search, paid social, and display under its own state supplier and ancillary licenses, so the operator plugs a campaign into an existing regulatory footprint. The affiliate side works the other way around, with the agency's own casino-offer properties feeding traffic on CPA or revenue-share economics backed by its Pennsylvania revenue-share license.
No onboarding timeline is published. The regulatory half of a campaign start is already done, since the agency sits on the state registers, which leaves kickoff as a commercial and creative question.
Services & market access
Paid search, paid social, and display media buying for US regulated online gambling operators, run under the agency's own state gaming licenses, plus a revenue-share affiliate side built on state-level casino-offer properties the agency owns and a marketing strategy layer over the top.
US Regulated Media Buying
Paid search, paid social, and display media buying for US regulated online gambling operators, sold under the positioning Your Gateway to the American player and executed under the agency's own state gaming licenses rather than a client's vendor registration.
- Paid search, paid social advertising, and display media buying as the channel core
- 12B+ ads served, 61 advertisers, and 128 brands on the current counters (2026-07-16)
- Licensed in 19 states on the current count, with operations in 11 more states and Ontario where affiliate-level licensing is not required
- Fantasy sports and event wagering covered under the Arizona supplier license (announced 2021-09-09)
- Campaigns for the tier-1 operator wall, from BetMGM and DraftKings to bet365 and Caesars
Affiliate Marketing & Owned Assets
The other half of the hybrid model: MediaTroopers describes itself as a paid affiliate marketing agency and operates its own state-level casino-offer comparison properties, with the revenue-share commercial model backed by a dedicated Pennsylvania revenue-share license announced in April 2022.
- Own state-level casino-offer properties, MI Casino Offers among them, run as revenue-share affiliate assets
- A Pennsylvania revenue-share license (announced 2022-04) sits under the rev-share commercial model
- Press capstone from February 2023: all possible US revenue share licenses
- Affiliate marketing named as a first-class service line alongside the media buying
- Maine affiliate license from the Maine Gambling Control Unit (announced 2024-02)
State Licensing Coverage
The differentiator sold as a capability: 21 licenses on the current homepage count, 13 state supplier plus 6 ancillary, accumulated in a dated arc from New Jersey in 2019 through Maine in 2024, with the Pennsylvania and Indiana rows sitting in the public state registers today.
- Pennsylvania GCB Certified Gaming Service Provider for affiliate marketing service, certification expires 07/25/2028 (register report dated 2026-07-15)
- Indiana Gaming Commission published Sports Wagering Registrant SWR-000116 (list updated 2024-09-12)
- West Virginia permanent Sports Wagering Supplier License granted 2021-03-01, after a temporary license from 2020-06-16
- The 2021 Arizona announcement enumerated 13 licensed jurisdictions: NJ, PA, CO, IN, TN, IL, MI, Washington DC, WV, VA, IA, WY, and AZ
- Maryland (2022-06), Washington state (2022-10), Puerto Rico (2023-07), and Maine (2024-02) followed in dated grants
The history
Sales decks get rewritten for every deal. A dated record doesn't.
MediaTroopers launched in 2019 in Philadelphia, and its About timeline ties the founding directly to the license acquisition process the founders had begun, with New Jersey as the first market. That sequencing is the company in miniature: licensing first, media second. Co-founders Shmulik (Sam) Segal, the CEO named in every license press release since, and Benjamin Truman, COO until an orderly dated stepdown in October 2023, built a hybrid model that pairs licensed media buying for US regulated operators with the agency's own state-level casino-offer affiliate assets. The license stack grew in dated steps from West Virginia in 2020 to Maine in 2024, resolving to the current homepage count of 21 licenses across 19 states, and the company remains private and founder-led with a 45-plus team and no investors.
Brands & clients on the platform
Corporate
Leadership
Milestones
- 2019
MediaTroopers launches in Philadelphia after the founders begin the license acquisition process, with New Jersey as the first market.
- 2020
West Virginia grants a temporary sports wagering supplier license (2020-06-16), the first step of the dated state-by-state arc.
- 2021
West Virginia makes the supplier license permanent (2021-03-01), and the Arizona Event Wagering and Fantasy Sports Supplier grant (announced 2021-09-09) enumerates 13 licensed jurisdictions: NJ, PA, CO, IN, TN, IL, MI, Washington DC, WV, VA, IA, WY, and AZ.
- 2022
Pennsylvania adds a revenue-share license (April), Maryland grants a Casinos and Sports Wagering Vendor License (2022-06-14), and Washington state grants an Ancillary Sports Wagering License (October).
- 2023
The Puerto Rico Gaming Commission licenses the agency (July), trade press marks all possible US revenue share licenses (February), and co-founder COO Benjamin Truman steps down in October in an orderly, dated transition.
- 2024
Maine's Gambling Control Unit grants an affiliate license (February), and the long-time SBC sponsor exhibits at SBC Summit North America for the first time.
Where they're pushing next
- Newly regulating US states, where the licensing-first playbook has repeated since 2019
- Ontario, live alongside the US footprint since the licensed map passed two dozen jurisdictions in 2023
- Puerto Rico, licensed by its Gaming Commission in July 2023
Longevity and ownership
Switching vendors is expensive, which makes the company's staying power part of the purchase. What the contract says about your data decides how expensive an exit gets.
MediaTroopers vs alternatives
No two vendors describe themselves the same way, which makes their own claims hard to line up. Every name here answers the same fields, so you can see where this one sits against the closest alternatives.
| Attribute | MediaTroopers | BugsyEmpire | NinjaPromo | Samba Digital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 | 2019 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Team | 45+ | — | 300+ | 51+ |
| US market | Available | — | — | — |
| Pricing | On request | On request | Public | On request |
| Market posture | Licensed only | Mixed | Mixed | Licensed only |
| Minimum engagement | On request | On request | $4,000/mo | On request |
The take: MediaTroopers is the compliance pole of the media buying lane: state gaming registers stand where the other shops offer case libraries and channel breadth. BugsyEmpire sells performance buying with a footprint well beyond the US regulated map, NinjaPromo sells multi-vertical breadth across crypto and iGaming, and Samba Digital leads with sports audiences and Latin American reach. Pick MediaTroopers when the target is the US regulated map and vendor licensing is a hard requirement, and pick elsewhere in the lane when the plan runs through Europe, Latin America, or offshore books.
Pricing & terms
MediaTroopers quotes pricing per project. Here's how the model and the terms are structured.
Flat fee, CPA, or revenue share per engagement, with the revenue-share model backed by a dedicated Pennsylvania revenue-share license and the agency's own affiliate assets
The engagement
Three commercial shapes are named and none carries a published number. Flat fee and CPA cover the agency-service side, and revenue share covers the affiliate side, where MediaTroopers holds a dedicated Pennsylvania revenue-share license (announced April 2022) and runs its own state-level casino-offer properties. The February 2023 press capstone of all possible US revenue share licenses signals how central that model is to the business. Budget conversations start from scratch in a sales call: no rate card, no minimum budget, and no engagement terms are published anywhere, so the commercial diligence is the one part of this vendor a buyer cannot do from public documents.
Frequently asked
The things operators actually ask before signing.
Is MediaTroopers actually licensed, and can I verify it myself?+
Yes, and this is the one agency in the category where verification means public registers rather than the agency's own website. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's approved certified vendors report (dated 2026-07-15) lists MediaTroopers, Inc. of Philadelphia as a Certified Gaming Service Provider for affiliate marketing service with the certification expiring 07/25/2028, and Certified is Pennsylvania's deeper vetting class, above Registered. The Indiana Gaming Commission's published list of sports wagering registrants carries MediaTroopers Inc. as SWR-000116, and the Colorado commission's 2023 public session minutes carry its licensing trail. The current homepage count is 21 licenses, 13 state supplier plus 6 ancillary, across 19 states, built in dated grants from New Jersey in 2019 to Maine in February 2024.
What does MediaTroopers actually do?+
Paid acquisition for US regulated online gambling operators: digital media buying, paid search, paid social advertising, display, marketing strategy, and affiliate marketing, under the positioning Your Gateway to the American player. The model is hybrid. Alongside client campaigns the agency runs its own state-level casino-offer comparison properties as revenue-share affiliate assets, which is what makes its CPA and rev-share commercial models real, and the Pennsylvania revenue-share license announced in 2022 sits under that side of the business.
Which operators does MediaTroopers work with, and how strong is the evidence?+
The homepage wall carries BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365, PokerStars, BetRivers, Caesars, Golden Nugget, Betway, 888, Bally, Betsson, Betfred, and Unibet at logo class. The strongest client evidence there is comes from the 2021 Arizona license announcement, which named DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Golden Nugget, and BetRivers among over 60 customers. There are no public case studies with metrics, so the wall and the press naming are the whole published client record, against counters of 61 advertisers and 128 brands.
How does MediaTroopers charge?+
Three models are named: flat fee, CPA, and revenue share, with the revenue-share model explicitly framed by the Pennsylvania revenue-share license press in 2022. Nothing else is published. There are no rate cards, no minimum budgets, and no engagement terms on any surface, so every commercial question runs through a sales conversation and minimums are effectively on request.
Does MediaTroopers work outside the United States?+
Only barely, and by design. The footprint is the US regulated states, Ontario, and Puerto Rico, and nothing else appears on any surface. That licensed-only posture is the business model: the agency describes itself as the gateway to the American player, and its trust layer is built from US state gaming registers. An operator buying for the UK, Europe, Latin America, or offshore markets needs a different shop in this lane.
Who is behind MediaTroopers, and how stable is the company?+
Shmulik (Sam) Segal, CEO and co-founder, is named in every license press release and carries a public profile. Co-founder Benjamin Truman was COO until stepping down in October 2023, a dated and orderly transition with no incident press around it. The company is MediaTroopers, Inc., a private, founder-led Philadelphia entity (PA entity number 6887440 in its own site footer) with a 45-plus team across technology, marketing, media buying, and customer service, a single clean corporate history since 2019, and no incidents or allegations anywhere.