--- title: "Gannett Is Using AI to Pump Brainrot Gambling Content Into Newspapers Across the Country" description: "The media giant Gannett is using AI to \"automatically generate\" content about lottery scores and tickets in local newspapers across the US." date: "2025-05-12" modified: "2025-05-12" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/gannett-ai-gambling-content" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Brain" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "ai" - "ai journalism" - "ai-generated content" - "local newspapers" --- # Gannett Is Using AI to Pump Brainrot Gambling Content Into Newspapers Across the Country ![The media giant Gannett is using AI to "automatically generate" content about lottery scores and tickets in local newspapers across the US.]() *\Image: Angela Weiss / AFP / Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu / G Fiume / Maryland Terrapins / Joe Raedle / Getty / Futurism\* The media giant Gannett, the largest owner of American local newspapers and the publisher of *USA Today*, is using AI to churn out a nationwide torrent of automated articles about lottery results that often pointedly direct readers toward a gambling site with which Gannett has a financial relationship, giving the company a financial kickback when readers visit it. Gannett appears to have started publishing the automated gambling posts around February of this year, with the articles published en masse by dozens of local newspapers across many US states — an eyebrow-raising editorial move, especially during an [explosive rise in gambling addiction]() that Gannett itself [has]() [covered]() [extensively](). In many cases, the posts are outfitted with vague bylines, attributed to simply a paper's "Staff" or "Staff reports." Other times, the posts are attributed to a Gannett editor or digital producer, suggesting at first glance that the articles were written by humans. Until you get to the foot of each post, that is. Though the information provided varies slightly from post to post and state to state, the content is extremely formulaic. And at the very bottom of each post, there's a similar disclaimer that each "results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu" — a compiler of lottery data with a [website straight out of web 1.0]() — and a "template" that was "written and reviewed" by a Gannett journalist in a given market. Take a [recent post]() about Illinois Powerball Pick 3 results, published May 7 in *The Peoria Journal Star*. The article is bylined by a longtime Gannett employee named Chris Sims, who's listed on LinkedIn as a digital producer for the newspaper giant. At the bottom of the article is the disclaimer fessing up to the use of automation technology to churn out the article, as well as the claim that AI was used in tandem with a template "written and reviewed by an Illinois editor": *This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Illinois editor. You can send feedback using this form. Our News Automation and AI team would love to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us.* That editor would have to be Sims. Right? After all, why else would a journalistic institution slap a journalist's name at the top of an article, if not to insinuate that said journalist was directly involved in its writing or reviewing? But further digging muddies the water. Sims' opening line — emphasis ours — reads as follows: *The Illinois Lottery **offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here's a look at May 7, 2025, results for each game.*** Simple, but direct — and presumably from a template written by Sims, if the disclaimer is to be believed. But here's the opening line from [another, similar post]() about the May 7 Powerball drawings over in Texas, which was published by the Gannett-owned newspaper *The El Paso Times* and bylined by a different Gannett journalist named Maria Cortes Gonzalez: The Texas Lottery ***offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here's a look at May 7, 2025, results for each game.*** Gonzalez works for an entirely different market from Sims. And though the opening lines of each article are nearly identical, the disclaimer listed at the bottom of the Gonzalez-bylined article claims that it was "generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Texas editor," and not an editor from Illinois. The pattern continues over in Colorado, where [an article]() published by *The Coloradoan* about the May 7 Colorado Powerball results features the same lede: *The Colorado Lottery **offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here's a look at May 7, 2025, results for each game.*** In this instance, the *Coloradoan* article was simply attributed to "Coloradoan Staff." Its disclaimer, however, names yet another Gannett employee as author of the post's template, declaring that the "results page" was generated using TinBu data and a "template written and reviewed by Fort Collins Coloradoan planner Holly Engelman." The pattern continues at newspapers across the country, from [California,]() to [Georgia](), [Rhode Island](), [South Dakota](), and beyond. (It's also worth pointing out that all winning numbers can be found by googling the name of a state and "lottery numbers," meaning the articles are providing zero original value that can't be found with a simple web search.) Some of the posts go further than simply providing lottery results, and offer extra information on where and how to purchase tickets — and [often]() [recommend]() [that]() [readers]() [shop]() lotto stubs from an online platform called Jackpocket, which [struck a deal with Gannett in 2023]() and is referred to in many automatically-generated Gannett articles as the "official digital lottery courier of the *USA TODAY* Network." Jackpocket, which is [owned]() by the digital gambling giant DraftKings, [recently came under investigation in Texas]() after a massive lottery win drew lawmaker scrutiny over the fairness of tickets bought through the third-party lottery platform. To say that mixing automated journalism with SEO-targeted lottery articles that generate revenue when readers become gamblers themselves is pushing the limits of editorial ethics is putting it mildly, especially given the muddiness of the template attributions. When we contacted Gannett for comment, the company confirmed through a spokesperson that it uses a "natural language generation" tool to produce the articles. Regarding the similarities between articles across regions, the spokesperson said that a singular Gannett journalist drafted an original template and distributed it across markets, where market editors edited the draft as they saw fit. The spokesperson also denied that bylining the automated articles with the names of editorial staffers might be misleading to readers, arguing that including the editorial bylines encourages transparency, and stated that all of the automated posts are double-checked by humans before publishing. Gannett also maintained that the articles are editorial — and not advertorial, as the links to Jackpocket might suggest. The spokesperson claimed that the lottery provider wasn't involved in the creation of any of the content we found, and affiliate links were only added in states where Jackpocket, which isn't available in all 50 states, legally operates. In a written statement, the spokesperson doubled down on Gannett's commitment to automation. "By leveraging automation in our newsroom, we are able to expand coverage and enable our journalists to focus on more in-depth reporting," the spokesperson told us in a statement. "With human oversight at every step, this reporting meets our high standards for quality and accuracy to provide our audiences more valuable content which they've always associated with Gannett and the USA TODAY Network." The disclosure that appears on the articles — "Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services" — seems to imply that not all gambling articles earn money when readers start gambling. A spokesperson didn't clarify. This is hardly Gannett's first brush with AI content. Back in June of 2023, the company's chief product officer, Renn Turiano, [told *Reuters*]() that Gannett planned to experiment with AI, though he [swore that it would do so responsibly]() — and, importantly, would avoid publishing content "automatically, without oversight." But those promises quickly unraveled, and in August, *USA Today*, *The Columbus Dispatch*, and other Gannett papers were caught publishing [horrendously sloppy]() AI-generated write-ups about local high school sports scores. It [was]() an [embarrassment]() for the publisher, which was forced to [issue mass corrections](). Then, in September of 2023, Gannett came under fire once again after journalists at the company's [since-shuttered]() commerce site, *Reviewed*, [publicly accused]() its owner of publishing AI-generated shopping content bylined by fake writers. At the time, Gannett defended the content; it claimed that it hadn't been created using AI, but had been written by freelancers who worked for a third-party media contractor [identified]() as AdVon Commerce. A [months-long *Futurism* investigation into AdVon later revealed]() that the company was using a proprietary AI tool to generate content for its many publishing clients, including Gannett, *Sports Illustrated**,* many local newspapers belonging to the McClatchy media network, and more — and bylined its content with [fake writers with AI-generated headshots]() and made-up bios designed to give the bogus content more perceived legitimacy. (AdVon has contested our reporting, but our investigation found many discrepancies in its account.) Gannett also caused controversy amongst staffers last year when it [updated contracts]() to allow for the use of AI to generate "news content," and has since rolled out an AI tool that summarizes articles into [bullet points](). And now, with its mass-generated lottery content, it seems that the publisher's AI train has continued to chug right along. After Gannett's many AI controversies — and the copious AI journalism scandals we've seen in the publishing industry writ large — automated, SEO-targeted lottery updates feel like the logical next stop. *Update: This article incorrectly attributed an article published in the Gannett-owned newspaper The El Paso Times to The Austin American-Statesman, and said that The Austin American-Statesman was owned by Gannett. The Austin American-Statesman was [sold by Gannett to Hearst]() in February 2025.* **More on Gannett and AI:** [*Gannett Sports Writer on Botched AI-Generated Sports Articles: "Embarrassing"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()