ProPublica Bans Staff Bets on News Events, Allowing Sports Wagers and Office Pools
Updated
Updated · ProPublica · Jun 15
ProPublica Bans Staff Bets on News Events, Allowing Sports Wagers and Office Pools
2 articles · Updated · ProPublica · Jun 15
Summary
ProPublica updated its ethics code to bar all employees from wagering on news-event prediction markets, even when they are not involved in covering the subject.
The newsroom said the change responds to the growing reach of platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket and to concerns that financial stakes in news outcomes could undermine reader trust.
The revised policy still permits legal sports betting and small-stakes office contests—such as Super Bowl wagers or Oscars pools—when employees are not covering those events.
Examples cited include a U.S. soldier accused of making more than $400,000 from a Venezuela-related bet, candidates fined roughly $540 to $6,230 for trading on their own races, and a journalist threatened by gamblers.
NPR and The New York Times have adopted similar restrictions, while Maryland, New York and some House lawmakers have also pushed limits on prediction-market betting tied to insider information.