An award-winning ESPN producer has accused the network of ignoring the dangers of sports gambling and silencing reporting on the subject.
Speaking with the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), Nicole Noren said she decided to leave the cable giant when it launched its doomed online sportsbook, ESPN Bet, which has since been replaced by a partnership with another, DraftKings.
‘I was out,’ she told the CJR. ‘I’m not going to work for a gambling company and have blood on my hands.’
Noren didn’t come to this position lightly.
The winner of Emmy, Murrow, and Peabody Awards over her 24 years with the network, Noren said she grew up acutely aware of the dangers of sports gambling, which irreparably harmed her family.
‘Addiction dictated every part of our life,’ she said. ‘It’s very, very personal to me.’
As she explained, gambling addiction caught up with her grandfather, father and one of her brothers, who ultimately died on the streets of Las Vegas in 2013. To Noren, gambling was an inescapable way of life as a child.
Nicole Noren said she decided to leave ESPN when it launched its doomed online sportsbook, ESPN Bet, which has since been replaced by a partnership with another, DraftKings
‘I grew up in Ventura, California, and multiple times, we suddenly had to move because of extreme financial ups and downs,’ she said. ‘I mean, I grew up in a sportsbook. We didn’t go to museums and typical places kids go to. We were dragged to Las Vegas in the eighties and hanging out in the Hilton and Caesars sportsbooks, when kids weren’t supposed to be around there. I remember going to the horse track, going to the dog track.
‘My brother died thirteen years ago on the sidewalk in downtown Las Vegas,’ she continued. ‘It’s a stark reality, but it illustrates the tragic arc of being brought there as kids so our dad could gamble at sportsbooks, to then surviving on the streets there as a homeless person and dying at thirty-six.’
For years, sports gambling didn’t impact Noren’s professional life at ESPN, which kept the industry at arm’s length until well after the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on bookmaking in 2018.
But after years of support from the network in her pursuit of important stories about gender-based violence, mental health and concussions, she began to notice a change at the Worldwide Leader.
The once formidable wall separating ESPN’s business and editorial departments was beginning to give way.
‘About five to seven years ago, that wall started getting a little more penetrable,’ she said. ‘There was a change in leadership, and my colleagues on the investigative unit and I noticed more of a rocky path to report some stories that involved stakeholders.
‘What was telling to me was that I had pitched numerous stories that would take a harder look at some of the gambling companies and addiction, and none of those stories was greenlit,’ she continued. ‘They ended up doing a show on it around that time, but it became very neutered. Some of the people involved intended to make it much more hard-hitting and hold the gambling companies accountable. Let’s just say the final product didn’t end up doing that.’
The ESPN Bet Sportsbook logo is pictured before a 2025 MLB game in Detroit. The app has since been phased out by ESPN, which has formed a new partnership with DraftKings
Noren accused her bosses of ‘putting their heads in the sand’ on the issue.
She ultimately left ESPN in 2024 and now works as an independent filmmaker.
Following her departure, Noren said, she received an ESPN article from a former colleague. The piece was an interactive explainer on sports gambling that relied on brightly colored cartoon characters to explain the complexities of the controversial industry to fledgling consumers.
‘I opened it and it literally made me sick to my stomach,’ Noren said of the piece. ‘The animations are bouncy and bright; it’s pretty much made for kids. And I know from working there how long something like this takes to make, how many people are involved, and I just said to myself, ‘How did no one in this entire process say, ‘What are we doing? This is wrong. We’re helping kids and young people figure out how to do something that could be incredibly detrimental to their health’?’
‘It’s just so offensive to me that they would be so oblivious and caught up in the business side of it that they weren’t thinking about the public health side.’
Noren went on to say she believes other media outlets are self-censoring gambling content in order to keep or attract advertisers.
‘There are also people who are willfully blind right now,’ she said. ‘They care more about their 401(k) than they care about journalism.’
ESPN has since issued a statement to Awful Announcing in response to Noren’s accusations.
‘ESPN remains committed to journalism that serves sports fans, holds powerful interests accountable and earns our audience’s trust,’ the statement read. ‘Our editorial decisions are guided by news judgment and journalistic integrity, and we demonstrate this every day through the award-winning content we produce across our platforms.’
DraftKings has many deals with media outlets, including one with Sports Illustrated, which led to former New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz being photographed at a brand event in April
The Daily Mail has reached out to ESPN spokespeople for further comment.
ESPN.com’s gambling reporter, David Payne Purdum, has since pushed back against Noren’s comments, while defending his employer.
‘I have covered addiction, athlete harassment and betting scandals with support and encouragement from our team of editors at ESPN,’ read Purdum’s post on X. ‘Neutered betting / gambling coverage is not something I’ve experienced.’
DraftKings is ESPN’s official sportsbook and odds provider after the cable giant ended its partnership with Penn Entertainment, which developed and operated the ESPN BET app.
Both ESPN and DraftKings collaborate on responsible gaming campaigns, but have faced criticism for the pervasive advertisements and references to sports betting that could trouble those battling gambling addiction.
