DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics Just Dropped $48 Million Into a Political Super PAC — Here’s Why the Prediction Markets Threat Is the Real Driver

The largest sportsbook operators in the United States have quietly become one of the largest pools of political money in the 2026 midterm cycle. An exclusive report from Axios published Wednesday revealed that DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, and Bet365 — all members of the Sports Betting Alliance — have collectively funneled approximately $48 million into a super PAC called Win for America, which is targeting primary elections in states where sports betting has not yet been legalized.

Win for America has already directed more than $20 million toward six states, including Texas and Georgia — two of the largest un-legalized markets in the country — and is expected to expand its reach to as many as 15 additional states before November, with Pennsylvania and New York among the targets. The stated goal is to support candidates who will back sports betting legalization. The unstated driver is the competitive threat posed by prediction markets, which are already operating legally in most of these states without needing a single vote from a state legislature.

What Win for America Is and How It Works

Win for America is a federal super PAC that funnels money into state-level PACs operating in specific markets. The committee raised $41 million in the most recent public reporting period, with Bet365 contributing an additional $7 million after the filing deadline, bringing the total to $48 million. The structure allows the national operators to direct resources toward individual state races — gubernatorial primaries, legislative seats, and ballot initiatives — without the restrictions that apply to direct corporate political donations.

In Alabama, one of the states on the target list, Win for America’s money flowed through the American Conservative Fund, a Virginia-based group that received $500,000 from the super PAC after an initial $2 million donation from DraftKings. The ACF then directed money toward candidates aligned with expanded sports betting access. That kind of layered structure — super PAC to state PAC to candidate — is a standard mechanism in modern political fundraising and is legal under federal campaign finance rules.

Why Prediction Markets Are the Real Engine Behind This

The conventional narrative around sportsbook lobbying is simple: companies that profit from legal gambling want more legal gambling states. But the $48 million figure — and the urgency behind it — reflects something more specific: fear that prediction markets will capture the tax revenue and customer base that regulated sportsbooks were counting on in unlicensed states before those states ever vote to legalize.

Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket operate under federal CFTC oversight rather than state gaming licenses. That federal framework allows them to offer sports event contracts — binary yes/no bets on game outcomes — in states where sports betting is explicitly illegal, without requiring state legislative approval or paying state gaming taxes. DraftKings and FanDuel are already available to bettors in California, Texas, and Georgia through their own prediction market apps, launched after both companies acquired or built CFTC-registered exchanges in late 2025.

The strategic trap the major operators face is this: by entering prediction markets, they gain access to unlicensed states but lose the tax revenue argument that makes legislators in those states want to legalize traditional sports betting. If Texans can already bet on the Cowboys through a federally regulated app, the urgency for Texas lawmakers to create a state licensing regime — complete with state tax revenue — diminishes. Win for America’s political spending is an attempt to create legislative momentum before prediction markets fully fill the vacuum.

The States Under the Most Pressure

Texas and Georgia are the two most significant targets on Win for America’s list. Texas, the second most populous state in the country, has repeatedly failed to advance sports betting legislation despite years of lobbying. A bill to legalize sports betting died in the Texas legislature in the most recent session. Georgia’s sports betting push has failed repeatedly in recent cycles, with the most recent effort collapsing in March 2026.

Illinois and Ohio are also on the target list, though both states already have legal sports betting. The political spending in those markets is believed to be aimed at defeating or complicating additional tax increases on gaming — Illinois has floated a Chicago-specific sports betting levy, and sportsbook operators have been fighting it aggressively. Pennsylvania and New York, two of the highest-tax sports betting markets in the country, are also identified as potential targets for spending that would push back against further tax hikes rather than pursuing initial legalization.

The Uncomfortable Irony in the Strategy

The Sports Betting Alliance’s members are simultaneously funding a political operation to legalize sports betting in new states and building their own prediction market products to operate in those same states without waiting for legalization. DraftKings Predictions and FanDuel Predicts promo already serve customers in California, Texas, Georgia, and Florida — states where their traditional sportsbooks are legally barred.

The super PAC spending is therefore not purely about opening new markets; it is about determining what kind of market those states will have — one that generates state tax revenue and requires the regulatory infrastructure traditional sportsbooks have built, or one dominated by federally regulated prediction market contracts that bypass state licensing entirely. The operators are playing both sides of that bet simultaneously, which is either a sophisticated hedge or a fundamental contradiction in their stated policy positions, depending on how closely you look.

Win for America is expected to be one of the more significant single-industry super PACs in the 2026 midterm cycle. Whether the political spending converts into legislative wins in Texas or Georgia remains to be seen — both states have resisted for years. But the $48 million signals that the traditional sportsbook industry views this cycle as potentially its last best chance to lock in a regulatory framework before prediction markets render the question largely moot.