Detectives turned to journalist and gambled (5)
I believe the answer is:
diced
'gambled' is the definition.
(dicing is a kind of gambling)
'detectives turned to journalist' is the wordplay.
'detectives' becomes 'cid' (**).
'turned' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'to journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'cid' reversed gives 'dic'.
'dic'+'ed'='DICED'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for diced that I've seen before include "Cubed" , "Risked" , "Cut into small squares" , "Gambled or cut into cubes" , "Chopped; gambled" .)