Newspaper Industry Could be Saved by Online Gambling

How's this for some "out of the box" thinking?

New York Daily News Publisher Mortimer Zuckerman was quoted this week as saying that he believed online gambling can actually save the newspaper industry.

How?

"(The) federal government ought to ... allow sports betting on newspaper Web sites. That would save every newspaper in America."

He referenced the UK newspapers, many of which allow sports betting on their own websites.

"I know a major newspaper in London that makes $15 million a year from sports betting alone," Zuckerman said.

At one time in the US, newspapers (both in print and online) accepted ads for online gambling sites.  Those generate substantial volume.  Now defunct BetOnSports budgeted out over a million dollars one year just for newspapers advertisements and would have allocated more had other major papers accepted the ads.

The publisher said his solution for newspapers would require an act of Congress and a government willing to face opposition from casino interests: "Newspaper owners have never gotten together to lobby for this because they have always been quite profitable. Those days are behind us."