DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics Pour $41M Into Super PAC Targeting Sports Betting States
FEC filings reveal that DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics have contributed $41 million to the Win for America super PAC, which has routed funds to Republican- and Democratic-aligned committees targeting Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
The three largest US sportsbook operators have quietly assembled one of the most significant political spending operations in the industry’s history.
FanDuel contributed $19.5 million, DraftKings added $17.5 million, and Fanatics put in $4 million. The combined total dwarfs previous known operator political spending at the state level and signals a strategic escalation by the industry as the battle over legalization and tax rates intensifies across multiple states simultaneously.
How the Money Moves
Win for America has distributed the bulk of the funds raised to two affiliated super PACs, divided along partisan lines. The American Conservative Fund, which is Republican-aligned, received $26.1 million. The American Future, a Democratic-aligned committee, received $7.25 million. The asymmetry reflects where the industry sees its most important battles playing out.
The American Conservative Fund has concentrated its direct political spending in three states. It sent $6 million to American Conservative Fund Action Georgia, $3.5 million to Texas Conservative Fund, and $3 million to Win for Pennsylvania. Beyond direct state committee contributions, the PAC invested heavily in campaign infrastructure, directing more than $2 million to Del Cielo Media for advertising placement, over $1 million to Advocacy Marketing Partners, more than $1.3 million combined to Targeted Victory for media production and placement, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to Guidant Polling and Strategy for research.
The American Future took a different approach. Most of its $7.25 million went toward voter-facing advertising and outreach rather than direct contributions to state committees. Its largest expenditures include approximately $1.9 million to GPS Impact for digital, television, radio, and billboard advertising, and around $1.1 million to Blue Collar Communications for direct mail campaigns. Despite no contributions to candidates or state committees disclosed in its filings, various reports indicate that American Future spent more than $1 million, and potentially up to $2.5 million, backing candidates in Illinois state legislative primaries, including several Chicago-area races.
The Major Sports Betting Expansion Targets: Texas and Georgia
The geographic concentration of the Republican-aligned spending tells the clearest story about what the operators are trying to accomplish. Texas and Georgia are the two most important untapped sports betting markets in the country, and both have been resistant to legalization.
Texas has been the target of sustained gambling industry investment for years, with Las Vegas Sands spending tens of millions on state influence campaigns. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has been the primary obstacle, maintaining a firm opposition to gambling expansion. Sands-backed candidates suffered losses in this year’s primary elections despite heavy spending, but the company has pledged to continue pressing. The American Conservative Fund’s activity in Texas suggests the sportsbook operators are now running a parallel effort, betting that enough political pressure from enough directions will eventually shift the calculus.
Georgia is the third most populous state in the country without legal sports betting. The state has seen bills introduced in every legislative session since 2018. The closest it came was 2024, when the Senate passed a bill that stalled in the House. A Senate tourism committee recommended legalization in late 2025, citing competition with neighboring states. With $6 million directed into Georgia, the operators are treating it as their highest-priority expansion target.
Alabama has also been identified in the filings, with the American Conservative Fund spending approximately $80,000 on state advertising. Separately, the state-registered SV&B PAC, funded primarily by the Sports Betting Alliance, a trade group representing DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics, has donated $718,500 to multiple Alabama candidates since January 2025.
The Defensive Play: Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio
Not all of the spending is about opening new markets. In several states where sports betting is already legal, operators are fighting to keep their tax rates from rising further.
Pennsylvania is a priority. Lawmakers there are exploring potential increases to the current 36% gross gaming revenue tax, already one of the highest rates in the country. Only New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Oregon, and Illinois impose a heavier burden on certain operators. The $3 million directed to Win for Pennsylvania suggests the industry is treating any further rate increase as a material financial threat worth significant political investment to prevent.
Illinois is the clearest example of what the operators are trying to avoid. The state replaced its flat 15% gaming revenue tax in 2024 with a progressive tiered structure that raised the rate on FanDuel and DraftKings to 40%. In 2025, Illinois added a per-bet tax of $0.25 on the first 20 million wagers and $0.50 on each wager thereafter. Chicago then imposed a 10.25% city tax on gaming revenue starting January 2026. The American Future’s spending in Illinois legislative primaries reflects an effort to shape the composition of a legislature that has repeatedly moved against operator interests.
Ohio rounds out the defensive picture. Governor Mike DeWine attempted to raise the state’s sports betting tax rate again in 2025, following a 2023 increase, but lawmakers rejected the proposal. Republican state legislators have since introduced the Save Ohio Sports Act, which would eliminate online sports betting in the state entirely. Ohio represents a market where the industry faces threats from multiple directions simultaneously.
The Broader Picture in Sports Betting Politics
The $41 million figure, spread across two partisan committees and multiple state targets, reflects the industry’s recognition that its most important regulatory and tax decisions are made not in Washington but in statehouses. The dual-PAC structure enables operators to engage across partisan lines in states where the political math requires it, funding conservative messaging in Texas and Georgia while supporting Democratic incumbents in Illinois who might resist further tax increases.
The scale of the operation also reflects how much is at stake. State-regulated online sportsbooks generated roughly $27 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2025. Even a modest shift in tax rates across a handful of major states can move hundreds of millions of dollars in either direction. At those margins, $41 million in political investment is not extravagant. It is arithmetic.
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