Sports Betting Industry Heavily Backing Midterm Candidates

Sports betting sites are funneling contributions to midterm candidates through Super PACs

Four of the major players in the US legal and regulated sports betting industry are spending significant money to try to impact the outcome of key midterm elections in states that so far have declined to move forward with the legalization of sports betting.

DraftKings has donated $35 million to various Super PACS, while FanDuel has put up $29 million. Fanatics and Bet365 each show $5.5 million in political campaign contributions, according to reporting by Reuters.

Rather than contributing directly to the campaigns of specific candidates, a  Super PAC is a U.S. political committee that is legally able to accept unlimited donations from corporations ⁠and individuals. These groups can also spend unlimited sums in support of specific candidates. However, they cannot directly coordinate with campaigns or make donations that are targeting them specifically.

Win For America is the big winner in sports betting financial support

The Super PAC Win For America has been gaining the most backing from the sports betting companies. This group only launched a year ago.

“Win for America is ramping up to be another corporate money juggernaut,” Rick Claypool, a research director for the nonprofit research group Private Citizen, told Reuters.

According to federal election records, Win for America received $43 million in contributions from the sports betting industry through the first quarter of 2026. A further $29 million was contributed in the second quarter.

Those records show that DraftKings contributed $34 million to Win For America. FanDuel delivered $27 million in contributions, while both Bet365, through its subsidiary Hillside (Shared Services US) LLC, and Fanatics contributed $5.5 million to the overall total.

DraftKings, FanDuel, Bet365, and Fanatics are all part of the lobby group the Sports Betting Alliance, along with fellow sports betting company BetMGM. Of that group, only BetMGM hasn't made political contributions during the 2026 midterm election cycle.

Georgia, Pennsylvania midterm elections are getting much of the attention

Georgia has come close to passing legislation to legalize sports betting. Hoping to get enough votes to push the next bill successfully across the finish line, sports betting companies have been able to direct contributions toward pro-gambling candidates in the Peach State standing for election in the 2026 midterm elections. And they are working both sides of the aisle.

Win For America directed $12 million in the Georgia state primaries via two smaller PACs. One was the American Conservative Fund, a backer of Republican candidates, and the second was American Future, which supports Democrats.  The money was spent in 34 different legislative races. According to reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, all but two of the candidates they were backing were successful in their primary races.

Attention has also been focused on races in Pennsylvania, which already offers legal and regulated online sports betting. The government in that state is pushing to increase the tax rate on sports betting.

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