The National Football League’s disinterest in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s stake in casino operator Caesars Entertainment is heaping fresh scorn on the league’s oft-criticized anti-gambling stance.

On Monday, sportswriter Bart Hubbuch published a lengthy article on Deadspin detailing his failed efforts to publish a story in the New York Post regarding Kraft’s (pictured right) involvement with Apollo Global Management, one of two hedge funds that purchased Caesars in 2008 before surrendering majority control last year via the casino company’s bankruptcy restructuring.

Hubbuch says his planned Post article detailing Kraft’s stake in Apollo, which also claims to hold “significant” investments in UK bookmakers Ladbrokes and US slot machine maker American Gaming Systems, was spiked on the orders of Post owner Rupert Murdoch – a close friend of Kraft’s – just half an hour after Hubbuch queried Patriots PR staff regarding Kraft’s gambling holdings.

The gist of Hubbuch’s planned article was NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s (pictured left) disinterest in the major gambling holdings of one of the league’s more prominent owners. The issue has taken on extra significance given Goodell’s recent comments that the league had no intention of letting Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson own a piece of the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders due to Adelson’s casino ownership.