Sports Gambling and Prediction Markets Invade Newsrooms

28 September 2026

Major newspapers and media outlets across America are quietly transforming into affiliate marketers, churning out thousands of articles promoting online betting and gambling while burying disclosures about their financial ties to the industry. Since 2022, Advance Local, the publisher of 11 daily newspapers including the Pulitzer-winning Oregonian, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Star-Ledger, has published over 17,000 online articles promoting sportsbooks, online casinos, and prediction markets across its digital properties.

The promotional content, which carries small-print disclosures stating that "If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation," is created by Catena Media, a Swedish company that describes itself as an "affiliate marketing specialist." Its business model is to attract and deliver players to operators of online casino gaming and sports betting platforms, while being compensated through flat referral fees or a percentage of how much the player loses.

Gambling.com Group, another affiliate marketing company, has cut similar media partnership deals with some of the nation's biggest newspaper chains. Gannett and McClatchy, which together own hundreds of local newspapers, have agreed to let Gambling.com control much of their digital sports betting coverage. The company will create gambling-themed content and share in the referral revenue whenever a reader makes a bet.

Under the deal, Gambling.com's content - which is created entirely by the affiliate marketing company - will run under the banners of major media outlets, including USA Today. Gannett, which reaches about 140 million unique users per month, insists that it has "editorial approval" over anything published under its brands and includes a disclosure that "editorial staff was not involved" in the Gambling.com content.

Prediction markets, a newer frontier

Prediction markets, a newer frontier where newsrooms are getting data and partnership deals, are providing yet another way for local papers to push readers to gambling sites. The publication may wade into investing tips, put a betting slant on election coverage, and largely focus on horse-race predictions while occasionally plugging prediction markets.

More on this is available via GamblingLearn casino and betting guide.

The ethical issues raised by such newsroom partnerships are substantial and under-explored, according to journalists and academics who have studied the trend. Danny Funt, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, says that gambling partnerships can lead to a "chilling effect" that makes newsrooms less likely to investigate or criticize an industry that is becoming a major source of revenue.

"The key issues are whether it is affecting news organizations' ability to tell the full story about gambling and whether it is damaging credibility by prioritizing the interests of gambling operators over the public interest," Funt said.

As legal sports wagering spreads rapidly - with 38 states now allowing it - the growth in partnerships between news organizations and gambling affiliate marketers shows no signs of slowing. Predictions are hazy about whether all this fun for financiers and consumers will do more harm or good.