\n Posted on: February 6, 2026, 12:38h.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Last updated on: February 5, 2026, 01:40h.\n <\/p>\n
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- A 2024 op-ed from the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0<\/em>scolded legal sports betting<\/strong><\/li>\n
- About a third of the newspaper\u2019s staff was let go this week in Washington<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Washington Post <\/i>continues to make headlines after the daily newspaper based in the nation\u2019s capital laid off a third of its staff on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_681779896-858x572.jpg\")
The Washington Post headquarters in One Franklin Square in Washington, DC. The Washington Post opined in 2024 that the liberalization of sports betting was a bad bet for the country. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Among the biggest WaPo<\/i> job casualties was the sports department, which is being entirely shuttered. Notable former Post <\/i>sports journalists include John Feinstein, Michael Wilborn and Tony Kornheiser, who would go on to create and host ESPN\u2019s <\/i>\u201cPardon the Interruption,\u201d and Christine Brennan, the first woman to cover the Washington Commanders, then the Redskins, in 1985.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nDC has struggled to be a true \u201csports town\u201d compared to other East Coast cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The capital\u2019s transient, politically-obsessed, government-focused population has been critiqued for being too occupied with those matters to care and support their local teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cFor decades, however, the Post<\/i> treated sports as a vital part of life in the District. Whatever the rest of the country thought about Washington\u2019s teams and fans, there was no better place to read about sports than the nation\u2019s capital,\u201d wrote<\/a> Associated Press <\/i>reporter Noah Trister.<\/span><\/p>\n
Scott Van Pelt, whose sportscasting career began in DC at FOX5<\/i>, and today hosts \u201cSportsCenter at Night\u201d from Washington, also chimed in on the Post <\/i>job cuts.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up reading the Post<\/i>, I didn\u2019t realize it wasn\u2019t like this in other cities. I didn\u2019t know how lucky we were to enjoy giants of their craft like Kornheiser, Wilbon, Boswell, Kindred & Feinstein,\u201d SVP wrote on X.<\/span><\/p>\n
Washington Post<\/i> Sports Betting Coverage<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
The Washington Post\u2019s <\/i>sports section is being remembered fondly by the people who worked in the department. But when it came to the legalization of sports betting across the country, an opportunity made possible by a May 2018 decision in the US Supreme Court, the Post <\/i>was no fan.<\/span><\/p>\n
In a December 2024 opinion<\/a>, the Washington Post <\/i>Editorial Board concluded<\/a> that legalizing sports betting was a \u201cterrible bet.\u201d The op-ed, one of many where the WaPo <\/i>editors wrote against the landmark SCOTUS decision, held that legal sports betting has delivered societal harms to vulnerable people.<\/span><\/p>\n
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When easy access to addictive substances or experiences, such as gambling, increases, so does addiction. Unsurprisingly, then, problem gambling and addiction are rising, along with associated financial distress, bankruptcies, foreclosures, job losses, and suicides,\u201d the Dec. 2024 editorial read.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The WaPo <\/i>editors blamed the sportsbooks for the problems caused.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cLegalized sports betting was supposed to enable gambling companies to identify and weed out problem bettors. Instead, the opposite has happened: High rollers who lose are\u00a0targeted and courted as VIPs, showered with quick credit and other perks, and encouraged to gamble more \u2014 to \u2018chase\u2019 their losses, in industry parlance. Those who actually win big\u00a0get limits imposed\u00a0on how much they can bet,\u201d the op-ed continued.<\/span><\/p>\n
Sports Betting Landscape<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
Today, sports betting is legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. In the nation\u2019s capital, bettors can place legal sports bets online and in person.<\/span><\/p>\n
- About a third of the newspaper\u2019s staff was let go this week in Washington<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n