Sportsbooks and online casinos are quietly monetizing their partnerships with local newsrooms, potentially compromising journalistic integrity.

08 October 2026

The uneasy alliance is a bid by traditional news organizations to offset financial losses

Increasingly, newspapers across the United States are teaming up with sportsbooks, online casinos, and prediction markets to boost their bottom lines. These partnerships involve traditional media outlets like local newspapers publishing articles with promotional codes and links to gambling platforms, often without clear labelling of the paid content.

Media outlets, grappling with declining subscription and ad revenue, have quietly begun promoting gambling as a new revenue stream, but the ethical implications are troubling to journalism ethicists.

One of the most aggressive publishers of gambling content has been Advance Local, which owns more than 60 daily newspapers and digital media platforms including The Oregonian and NJ.com. Since 2022, Advance Local papers have published over 17,000 articles featuring promo codes for sportsbooks, online casinos, and prediction markets, according to a 2026 report by Popular Information.

The articles often appear in sports sections, buried among regular content with no clear labelling that the publisher is being paid to promote the gambling services. A typical article may list several sportsbooks, with the publisher receiving money if a reader signs up and starts betting. In 2025, Advance Local expanded into online casinos, and in 2026 it added promo codes for prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.

The partnership model, pioneered by gambling publications like Gambling.com, involves newsrooms and gambling operators sharing revenue from successful referrals. According to Sportsico, some agreements pay a flat fee for each new customer referral, while others share a percentage of the gambling revenue that new customers generate. Most fall into one of two categories, or as a hybrid: A set fee for every new customer, a set percentage of revenues over the lifetime of that customer, or a hybrid of both.

Gambling.com creates content designed to draw bets into gambling salons, and shares the profits from promotional referrals. According to Sportsico, one of the network's partners, McClatchy, created 20,000 campaign pages in 2024 with content about betting platforms, often including promo codes.

The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Houston Chronicle are among the titles that have also teamed up with Gambling.com, sometimes featuring hidden paid content in newsletter form, according to documents obtained by Popular Information. The Washington Post, meanwhile, started its "Odds Against" sports prediction series in 2024, but the Post had no clear statements about partnerships.

More on this is available via the CasinoGoer website.

Local and niche publishers are also embracing gambling partnerships. In 2024, the New Hampshire-basedbury Advocate mentioned sports gambling as a new revenue stream in its business plan, and launched an oddsmaker blog with betting predictions, partnerships, and some promo codes, according to Editor & Publisher. The blog reported that Burlington, Iowa-based weekly The Price Free Press also accepted promotions from the D & B Gaming in 2023.

Traditional news sources increasingly finance gambling as subscriptions are scarce,

Once taboo, partnerships between newsrooms and gambling platforms are increasingly seen as a way to generate revenue in the face of shrinking subscription and advertising dollars. As media companies struggle to maintain profitability, the allure of gambling partnerships is growing stronger. Major publishers, both traditional and niche, are eagerly embracing these partnerships as a means to revenue growth, even if it sometimes creates unease in the newsroom.

The economic crisis facing media organizations is undoubtedly a key motivator for these partnerships. According to a 2024 report in Editor & Publisher, media companies are increasingly drawn to gambling partnerships as subscriptions and advertising dollars continue to shrink. As a result, gambling affiliations are seen as an attractive way to generate new revenue streams and tap into the lucrative sports betting market.

The partnerships, which often involve cross-promotion of gambling services, are typically structured under three models: a set fee for each new customer referral, a percentage of the gambling revenue generated by new customers, or a combination of both. As a 2024 report in Sportsico pointed out, these partnerships are often framed as a win-win arrangement, with news organizations gaining access to a new revenue stream, and gambling operators benefiting from increased exposure and customer acquisition.

However, some news organizations are more cautious about gambling relationships. While the Washington Post did launch its "Odds Against" sports betting series in 20224, at the time it had no plans to partner with a sportsbook, according to a 2024 report in Editor & Publisher.

As with any evolving industry, the coming years will likely bring new growth and challenges, which may alter the outlook for partnerships between media and gambling platforms. So far, the media industry has consistently shown itself to be adaptable to new opportunities.