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Casino operators and sports betting companies have spent record amounts on campaign donations and on lobbying in Washington thus far this year, hoping it will help win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away.
Sportsbook operators, including FanDuel and DraftKings, have funneled more than $80 million into state senate and congressional races, via Win for America, a PAC launched in November 2025. The casino industry’s primary lobbying group, the American Gaming Association, has spent a record $2.06 million through September — the biggest lobbying spend by the group since 2013, when online gambling was reinstated after being banned in 2006.
Prediction markets and some of their executives have also been spending on local elections and on lobbying — primarily spending on the campaigns of politicians who oversee and shape their regulatory body, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Kalshi executives, including co-founders Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, have contributed more than $1.6 million directly to campaigns and to PACs supporting both political parties — nearly as much as the $1.79 million, including $1.28 million to outside firms, the company has spent on lobbying thus far this year. Polymarket has spent $270,000 via outside lobbying firms this year, and has made a $1 million donation to a Democratic nonprofit, according to a private remittance document seen by Reuters. And a new PAC, Coalition for Prediction Markets, backed by Kalshi, along with prediction market operators Robinhood, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Underdog have spent an additional $200,000.
“Kalshi’s political giving reflects our strong relationships with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle,” John Bivona, Kalshi’s head of federal government relations, said in a statement, adding that their giving reflects the company’s belief that keeping prediction markets safe “isn’t a partisan issue.”
Lobbying efforts are to “support the responsible development of federally regulated markets,” a Coalition for Prediction Markets spokesperson said. Polymarket declined to comment, and FanDuel, DraftKings, and Win for America didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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Prediction market companies are fighting against several state attorneys general, who argue that the sites operate as illegal online gambling operations and should be shut down, limited to non-sports betting or regulated on a state-by-state basis instead of by the federal agency.
Sports betting companies are hoping to retain their footholds in more than 30 states amid new scrutiny of the industry. Some recent studies have highlighted addiction problems, and some organizations have raised alarm bells that the rise in youth gambling is a public health crisis, which has motivated policymakers to propose legislation to regulate sports betting.
Four major sportsbooks — FanDuel, DraftKings, Bet365 and Fanatics — are also donating money to state races via Win for America — a super PAC that disperses money to the states via subsidiary partisan PACs, American Future and American Conservative Fund. Their aim is to fight tax hikes on gaming, and to expand the number of states that allow “iGaming” products. Sportsbooks are also lobbying against legislation to regulate sports wagering on a federal level, such as the SAFE Bet Act, which would establish a minimum national standard for regulating mobile and sports gambling if it passed.
“It’s spooked a lot of legislators,” Brianne Doura-Schawohl, the director of Campaign for Fairer Gambling, told Semafor about state-level political giving efforts by sports betting companies. “They’re worried about their seats and their ability to continue to legislate, and if they pick a fight with [them], I believe so to speak, it could become an issue.”
The casino industry’s spending efforts are aimed at supporting or swaying policymakers to restrict prediction markets’ operations, which they argue is eating into their businesses illegally.
There are “so-called ‘prediction markets’ that state attorneys general across the country have declared to be illegal gambling operations,” the American Gaming Association said in a statement, adding that the gaming industry creates jobs and helps grow the economy. Prediction markets, it says, “are mocking congressional intent on sports betting, thumbing their nose at state and tribal law, allowing teenagers to sports gamble, and robbing the states of revenue.”
The traditional casino operators and the sports betting companies are also lobbying in Washington for tax relief. They want to be able to deduct 100% of their gambling losses from their taxes, a shift currently written in the FAIR BET Act, that recently passed through the Ways and Means Committee. At least six cosponsors of the bill have received political contributions from sportsbooks. Casino operators have also donated to individuals on the Ways and Means Committee.
Eleanor Mueller contributed reporting.