Prediction markets have become a growing source of revenue for media companies just ahead of the midterm elections, but not everyone thinks the proliferation of gambling odds in political reporting is a good thing.

A number of news organizations, including CNN, CBS News, Dow Jones, and CNBC have struck business partnerships with prediction-market operators like Kalshi Inc. and Polymarket to augment their traditional coverage, with some featuring market trades predicting who’ll win control of the House of Representatives or the hotly contested Texas Senate race.

The cash-flush prediction markets represent a new source of revenue for media companies at a time when traditional television advertising and viewership are in free-fall. But more than a dozen states have sued prediction-market operators claiming they offer a form of illegal gambling, and the nascent industry has been wrestling with incidents of insider trading and market manipulation. And there’s little public information around the economics of these news partnerships.

Media critics have questioned whether the deals could bring the objectivity of the outlets into question and tarnish their credibility.

“There’s a temptation to partner with these firms because they appear data-driven — it’s a body of information,” said Alison Taylor, an associate professor of business and society at New York University Stern School of Business. “But the mainstream media’s already got a problem with legitimacy and lack of trust.”

Prediction markets have grown swiftly over the past year, primarily on the back of sports betting. The platforms have been eager to put a spotlight on their election offerings, which have attracted around $1.5 billion in trading volume across Kalshi and Polymarket, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data from the analytics site Dune.

After striking deals to incorporate prediction market trades into their news coverage, some major U.S. TV networks won’t be reporting the odds on air during election night, however.

Fox Corp. signed a deal with Kalshi earlier this year to include forecasts across its various outlets. The Fox News division will rely on its own polling unit to call the elections on Nov. 3 and said that the Kalshi agreement “excludes any political coverage.”

Prediction odds also won’t appear on CNN’s “Magic Wall” or be referenced on air during election night coverage, with the network preferring to focus on the results as they come in. CNN also has a relationship with Kalshi.

“Prediction markets offer just one real-time measurement of public sentiment to complement more in-depth reporting, polling and analysis,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement. “CNN has strict editorial guidelines around which markets to utilize in our coverage, and only use in tandem with other data sources to give the full context of any story.”

A Kalshi spokesperson said the company is no different from third-party data providers whose information complements reporting.

“Our partners have full control over what and how they report, and we don’t tell them which markets to cite,” said Kalshi spokesperson Dani Lever. “Kalshi is a uniquely useful form of data because it’s backed by money on the line, and a growing body of independent analysis shows that they’re well calibrated.”

The relationships, many of which predate the election, have already been on full display as Nov. 3 approaches.

CNBC hosted a conference earlier this month in Washington called “Trading the Midterms,” which was sponsored by Kalshi and featured an interview with the company’s head of research. CNBC said it hosts more than 60 events a year, and clearly identifies corporate sponsors.

The network also puts a disclosure at the end of its prediction-market stories that notes “CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.”

The Wall Street Journal’s homepage highlights a regular “Featured Prediction Market” with a recent one showing Democrat James Talarico as a favorite to win the Texas Senate race. A footnote states that Polymarket has a commercial relationship with the newspaper’s parent, Dow Jones, but that the newspaper’s editors select what data to use.

CNN anchor Kate Bolduan kicked off a recent edition of the network’s The Odds with a phrase familiar to generations of gamblers. “All the smart money,” she said, favors Democrats capturing the majority in the House of Representatives in the coming midterm elections, and possibly winning the Senate. Chief data analyst, Harry Enten, who co-hosts the regular on-air segment, bolstered the claim by citing a Kalshi prediction odds showing trades favor a Democratic sweep.

CNN doesn’t have equity in Kalshi, and its editorial segments don’t provide any affiliate links, according to a person with knowledge of the arrangements. Nor does the network make money through customer acquisition, trades or contracts made by customers.

Last month, Skydance Corp.’s CBS News announced that Kalshi would be its predictions market sponsor and that the network would be using the data in its midterms coverage. The broadcaster also signed a deal to have DraftKings Inc. sponsor coverage of election night at its local stations, but will not use its prediction odds in newscasts.

The Associated Press said that Kalshi is a customer of the newswire and licenses its elections data. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, provides prediction-market data as part of its broader offering for clients.

Other news organizations declined to comment on the terms of their agreements. Polymarket also declined to comment.

Jordan Bender, a gaming industry analyst for Citizens Capital Markets and Advisory, sees parallels to the early days of sports betting, when DraftKings Inc., FanDuel and other sportsbooks spent lavishly on sponsorship deals with media outlets and sports teams in their pursuit of new customers.

“We’re seeing this whole cycle starts over again,” said Bender. “Prediction market companies are spending a tremendous amount of money for name recognition, customer acquisition. That’s the life cycle they’re in. They need to build their business as quickly as possible.”

Proponents say prediction markets reflect the wisdom of the crowd at a time when traditional political polls have sometimes fallen short, underestimating voter support for Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections. Polymarket and Kalshi both gave Trump high odds of returning to the White House in 2024, at a time when some mainstream polls favored Vice President Kamala Harris.

But there are not infallible. Prediction markets showed Flávio Bolsonaro with high odds of winning the recent Brazilian presidential elections, but his rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva emerged victorious. And Polymarket said this week it’s investigating suspicious trades around the Israeli elections.

Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News politics editor now at the cable channel NewsNation, said he doesn’t use prediction odds, calling them “lagging indicators, not leading indicators.”

There are broader concerns that the odds may even actually influence election outcomes.

A new study from the Brennan Center for Justice found concern that prediction markets could change voters’ views of which candidates are electable. If a candidate is heavily favored by prediction markets, with odds of 67% or higher, voters are more likely to believe that candidate would win. Prediction market odds also can dissuade voters from believing in a candidate’s electability, if the odds reflect a 33% chance of victory, the study found.

“You can have turnout effects where people say, ‘What’s the point of voting because my candidate is going to lose?’ ” said Joshua Mitts, a professor at Columbia Law School, who specializes in capital markets trading.

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