By Dawn Kopecki
NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - DraftKings, FanDuel and other online sports betting companies have ramped up election spending on the U.S. midterms to at least $72 million so far, the latest campaign election data shows, as prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket bring fresh scrutiny — and competition — to online betting.
The lucrative U.S. online sports gambling industry is confronting competition from what some see as a direct threat from a new breed of gambling across prediction
markets, which the administration of President Donald Trump has embraced.
The industry has become the third-largest corporate donor in the U.S. midterms behind crypto and technology, corporate watchdog Public Citizen estimates, pushing to get candidates elected to office who it hopes will be sympathetic to its issues.
Online sports betting books DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and UK-based bet365 have poured their money into Win for America, a so-called super political action committee (PAC) that has directed its funds into two affiliate PACs targeting Democratic and Republican state races: American Future and the American Conservative Fund, respectively.
Super PACs are U.S. political committees that can accept unlimited donations from corporations and individuals and spend unlimited sums supporting specific candidates, but they cannot coordinate directly with campaigns or donate directly to them.
Win for America launched late last year, according to Public Citizen, and such spending levels are unprecedented for the industry.
“Win for America is ramping up to be another corporate money juggernaut,” said Rick Claypool, a research director for the nonprofit research group. He compared it to the artificial intelligence and crypto sectors, which have each spent more than $100 million on the midterms so far.
Win for America and FanDuel declined to comment. DraftKings, Fanatics and bet365 did not respond to requests for comment.
Supporting particular candidates does not guarantee they will champion legislation if they are elected, but corporations are increasingly sharing their wealth in hopes that investment will eventually pay off. The money's impact is already evident in some state races.
Win for America spent more than $12 million in Georgia state races through two smaller PACs – Republican-focused American Conservative Fund and Democrat-focused American Future – as the legislature there weighs bills that would legalize gambling, state campaign finance records show.
The money went into 34 legislative races ahead of the primary. All but two of the candidates supported by the industry won, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in May.
American Future and American Conservative Fund did not respond to requests for comment. Polymarket and Kalshi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Win for America is also spending heavily on races in Pennsylvania, where there was a push to raise taxes on the online sports betting industry to boost state aid for public transportation, election records show.
The industry originally gave Win for America $43 million in contributions through the first quarter before donating another $29 million in the second quarter, federal election records show. Those totals do not reflect its overall giving since federal election records do not capture all spending on state races or what is allocated to so-called dark money groups — nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors.
DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and BetMGM formed the Sports Betting Alliance in 2021, a trade association designed to lobby Congress and state legislatures to keep online gaming legal across the U.S. BetMGM has not donated to the super PAC.
DraftKings has given at least $34 million in donations to Win for America, followed by FanDuel with at least $27 million, and bet365 and Fanatics with $5.5 million each in donations in this two-year election cycle. Bet365, founded by British billionaire Denise Coates, is donating money through its U.S. subsidiary, Hillside (Shared Services US) LLC.
DraftKings has also given at least $1 million to other committees while FanDuel has donated an additional $2 million, the records show.
A landmark 2018 Supreme Court decision struck down the federal law that had barred most states from legalizing sports betting. Since then, 39 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting of some form, including 33 states that allow online sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association.
The industry has steadily increased its spending on lobbying the U.S. Congress in recent years as a result, according to campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets. The nonpartisan nonprofit research group found that FanDuel spent $1.1 million on federal lobbying last year, seven times more than in 2024. DraftKings more than doubled its annual lobbying spending at about $900,000, OpenSecrets found.
(Reporting by Dawn Kopecki in New York and Douglas Gillison in Washington, D.C; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Nia Williams)
