Could be this. I think winning was worth $200 or something like that. (not sure how that worked out with $25 registration...)
He finished 7th/8th in Sega in Toronto, after coming in as the wildcard. Eliminated by Raph so who knows if he would have made 5th/6th or better if he faced someone else.
EDIT: it was something to do with someone else signing up for the wrong system and Stanton volunteering to switch, to balance the numbers or something.