Full Breakdown
Advance Local’s Pulitzer-Winning Newsrooms Publish Thousands of Gambling Promo Articles
5/14/2026, 1:58:51 AM
Massive Promotion of Gambling and Prediction-Market Content Across Advance Local Newspapers
Since 2022, the Advance Local network—owner of The Oregonian, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Star-Ledger, The Birmingham News, The Patriot-News and other award-winning outlets—has published more than 17,000 online articles that promote sports-book, online-casino and prediction-market promo codes. The pieces appear under local-news URLs with headlines such as “Kalshi promo code PENNLIVE: UFC 328 Preview” and “Arkansas DraftKings promo code launches $300 bonus!” and are presented as standard news stories.
Rise of Affiliate Marketing in Local Newsrooms
The investigation shows that promotional articles first appeared on Advance Local sites in 2022, accelerated in 2024, and expanded in 2025 to include online-casino content. By 2026 the company projects publishing over 14,000 gambling-related pieces in a single year.
Data & Statistics
- >17,000 gambling-related articles published from 2022-2025.
- >14,000 projected for 2026.
- Two dozen staff now produce the content in-house.
- At least three writers—Matt Boecker, Joseph Kata and a third unnamed—previously worked for affiliate-marketing firm Catena Media.
- The Post-Standard’s March 20 2026 article about an Arkansas DraftKings promo code appeared on Syracuse.com, a site whose primary readership is in New York.
Key Figures & Groups
- Advance Local – Owner of the regional newspaper network.
- Christine deWit – Executive Director for Communications, Advance Local.
- Catena Media – Affiliate-marketing specialist that collaborated with Advance Local before the in-house shift.
- Matt Boecker – Former Catena Media employee, now an Advance Local reporter.
- Joseph Kata – Former Catena Media employee, now an Advance Local reporter.
- Lee Enterprises – Competing local-news network that publishes a smaller volume of similarly formatted promo articles.
Official Statements & Responses
Advance Local’s communications director, Christine deWit, said the company “considered everyone who produced this gambling-related content a journalist” and that each article is “unique” to its host website. The firm also asserted that it discloses any compensation received for promoting promo codes. A March 2024 Catena Media release described its partnership as “published content in collaboration with media partners including Advance Local, owner of NJ.com and other news websites.” The internal “Gaming Policy” on each site claims the articles meet “the highest journalistic standards” and are “reviewed by an experienced editor for adherence to editorial protocol and accuracy.”
Criticism & Opposition
The Popular Information investigation characterizes the 17,000+ pieces as “low-quality articles promoting gambling and prediction markets — and is pretending it’s journalism.” Identical promotional copy appears across multiple outlets, contradicting the claim of uniqueness. Critics note that the high search-engine rankings of legacy newspapers amplify the reach of these affiliate-style articles, potentially steering readers toward betting platforms without clear disclosure of financial incentives.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Advance Local maintains that compensation details are disclosed, yet the investigation does not provide the specific amounts or terms of those disclosures. The company’s assertion of editorial rigor conflicts with evidence of near-identical articles published on distinct regional sites.
Verbatim Quotes
- “the highest journalistic standards.” — Gaming Policy, Advance Local sites
- “reviewed by an experienced editor for adherence to editorial protocol and accuracy.” — Gaming Policy, Advance Local sites
- “DeWit also maintained that it was accurate to describe each piece of content as “unique” to each website.” — Christine deWit, Advance Local
- “published content in collaboration with media partners including Advance Local, owner of NJ.com and other news websites.” — Catena Media, March 2024 news release
- “[t]ripled traffic on average across the board by tapping into regional authority for each site.” — Joseph Kata, LinkedIn profile
What’s Next
If the current publishing rate continues, Advance Local will exceed 14,000 gambling-related articles in 2026. The shift to an in-house reporting team suggests a longer-term commitment to the model, while competing networks such as Lee Enterprises have begun producing comparable content on a smaller scale. Ongoing scrutiny may prompt further disclosures about compensation and editorial oversight.
