Ex-ESPN producer says betting deals sidelined gambling investigations

Nicole Noren, a longtime investigative producer for ESPN's Outside the Lines, has gone public with claims that the network pulled back from scrutinising sports betting companies as its own commercial relationships with gambling grew.

Noren told the Columbia Journalism Review, in an interview with journalist Danny Funt, that she pitched multiple stories examining gambling firms and addiction that were never greenlit. She said one related project did go ahead but was watered down before broadcast, despite some involved wanting it to hold betting companies accountable, according to the Guardian's report on her comments.

Noren left ESPN in 2023, the year the network launched ESPN BET, its partnership with Penn Entertainment. She told Funt she was not willing to work for a gambling company, citing a family history of gambling addiction affecting her grandfather, father and brother. Noren declined to comment further when approached for the Guardian's story.

ESPN responded with a statement saying it remains committed to journalism that serves sports fans and holds powerful interests accountable, adding that its editorial decisions are guided by news judgment and journalistic integrity.

Bob Ley, who anchored Outside the Lines until retiring in 2019, told the Guardian that investigative reporting is a feature of a mature news organisation and that reporters during his tenure had latitude to cover entities with business ties to ESPN, sometimes with access that improved the reporting. He described Noren as passionate, honest and indefatigable.

Outside the Lines was cancelled as a regular show in 2023, though some content still carries the brand. A former ESPN reporter, speaking anonymously because they still work in media, told the Guardian the network is clearly retreating from investigative journalism even as some strong reporting continues, amid a broader shift toward entertainment programming. ESPN executive vice-president Mike Foss recently told a conference that personality Pat McAfee "might be a journalist at heart".

Brian Moritz, an associate professor at St Bonaventure University's Jandoli School of Communication, called Noren's account a dam-breaking moment that confirms assumptions about sports media's relationship with betting partners. He noted ESPN earns substantial revenue from promoting gambling even as the practice carries real costs for consumers.

The 2018 US Supreme Court decision striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act opened the door for states to regulate sports betting, and 39 states plus Washington DC now permit some form of it. A St Bonaventure and Siena College poll from last April found 27% of Americans, and 52% of men aged 18 to 49, hold a sportsbook account.

Cait Huble, director of public affairs for the National Council on Problem Gambling, said the demographic engaged in sports fandom overlaps heavily with those at risk of developing gambling problems. The NCPG, a nonpartisan harm-reduction group, has cited congressional testimony pointing to rising problem gambling rates in New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana that track the spread of legal sports betting, though no nationwide survey has measured addiction rates since legalisation expanded.