Balgarianovinite.com
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As Americans spend billions wagering on March Madness, FanDuel and DraftKings are hedging their bets in Washington. In 2025, the sports betting giants multiplied their federal lobbying spending and contributed millions of dollars to political action committees. After years of focusing on state legislatures, the market leaders are turning to the nation’s capital as federal regulators grow more concerned about the effects of online gambling.
FanDuel spent $1.1 million on federal lobbying in 2025, seven times more than it had the previous year. DraftKings spent about $900,000, more than double what it spent the year before.
The surge in federal spending comes as the two companies generally decreased their state lobbying efforts between 2016 and 2024. Over the decade ending in 2024, FanDuel and DraftKings, which together control around 80% of the online sports betting market, spent more than $20 million pushing their agendas in at least 20 states, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis of state disclosure reports. Their efforts in state legislatures paid off. Sports betting has been legalized in 39 states and Washington, D.C., since the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that a federal ban imposed on most states was unconstitutional.
With the rapid expansion of online sportsbooks, debates over their operation and effects are gaining more attention on the national level.
Gambling policy expert Jonathan Cohen said companies have “a recognition of the shifting battleground of gambling regulation, moving from the states to Congress, and a recognition that this is where the next fight, or the next fights, are brewing.”
About one in six Americans reported placing a legal bet on a sporting event in 2025, according to Ipsos. The presence of sports gambling companies has become inescapable at televised sporting events, with their logos and ads being shown as frequently as every 13 seconds during games. In less than a decade, companies like FanDuel and DraftKings have successfully embedded themselves in the sports industry.
With their rise, concerns over the safety of sports betting have grown. Last November, Ipsos found that about 41% of Americans believed that the federal government should do more to regulate sports betting.
Cohen said federal legislation hasn’t kept up with the rapid expansion of legalization because the public and legislators don’t yet fully understand the full harms of sports betting.
“There’s not yet been the public reckoning or awakening to the issue and to the harms of the issue,” Cohen said regarding sports betting.
Federal action
While Congress has yet to vote on comprehensive legislation addressing the expansion of sports betting, the industry spent millions of dollars trying to persuade lawmakers on several different bills last year. Sportsbooks are navigating a new tax policy introduced in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging 2025 fiscal policy bill and early attempts by federal legislators to regulate the industry.
A provision included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act adjusted the Internal Revenue Code to allow bettors to only deduct 90% of their losses against 100% of their gains. Before the change went into effect in January 2026, bettors were able to deduct 100% of their losses. This change has led bettors to potentially pay taxes on their wagers even if they didn’t make a profit.
In response, FanDuel and DraftKings lobbied in support of bills that would restore the deduction to 100% of lost wagers, such as two bills introduced by Democrats from Nevada: the FAIR BET Act, offered by Rep. Dina Titus, and the FULL HOUSE Act, introduced by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. In 2024, Titus received about $61,000 from individuals and PACs in the casino/gambling industry, and Cortez Masto received about $64,000 from individuals working for and PACs representing MGM Resorts International, which has its own online sports wagering platform, BetMGM.
Bills to restore the full deduction have had little momentum so far. The FAIR BET Act was recently rejected as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, and will need to be reintroduced as a standalone bill.
DraftKings also lobbied on another bill that Titus had introduced earlier in 2025, the Discriminatory Gaming Tax Repeal Act, which would eliminate the federal excise tax on sports bets.
Comprehensive legislation on online sports betting was introduced in 2024 and reintroduced in March of last year. The SAFE BET Act aims to set nationwide standards for online sports betting by focusing on protecting consumers, limiting advertisements and combating addictions. If enacted, the bill would be the first significant federal intervention in the industry, challenging a system that has previously been shaped by state legislators and industry lobbying. The bill is pending in Congress, and the gaming industry has shown strong opposition to the act.
Hired firms
DraftKings’ and FanDuel’s increased investments in federal lobbying last year were largely directed towards contracts with firms that have close ties to the Trump administration.
FanDuel hired multiple new firms in 2025, awarding its largest contracts to Trump-cozy firms BGR Group and CGCN Group, which it paid $440,000 and $360,000, respectively. The money spent on each contract was more than FanDuel had spent on federal lobbying in any other year.
The only new firm DraftKings hired last year was Michael Best & Friedrich, a firm headed by Trump’s former chief of staff, Reince Priebus. The firm was paid $240,000 by DraftKings in 2025.
PAC activity
Beyond lobbying, FanDuel and DraftKings expanded their political influence by creating their own political action committees and contributing directly to other PACs. Their heavy recent investments signal a new focus on influencing the national political agenda. The companies have directed millions of dollars to both Republican and Democratic groups, reflecting a strategy aimed at maintaining access and influence regardless of which party controls Congress.
DraftKings has spent over $4.5 million since 2024 on super PAC contributions. Its money has gone to the planning committees for both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, as well as to Trump’s inauguration committee.
In June, the company formed DraftKings PAC, which has since received around $137,000 mainly from executives. So far this year, the PAC has sent $18,500 to Republican committees and $11,500 committees to Democratic committees to support House and Senate races.
The DraftKings PAC looks meager compared to the company’s $2 million contribution to a nascent super PAC, Win for America. Currently, DraftKings is the sole funder of Win For America, which first filed with the Federal Election Commission in November 2025. The DraftKings-backed super PAC has spent about $1 million funneling money to two other new super PACs, American Future and American Conservative Fund. Based on their consultants and website, American Future appears to support Democratic candidates. American Future and American Conservative Fund have both paid numerous consulting and law firms.
Prior to its contribution to Win for America, DraftKings also donated to super PACs associated with both parties. In 2024, it contributed $1 million to Development Now for Chicago, the host committee of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. The sportsbook also contributed $500,000 to the 2024 Republican National Convention’s host committee. At the end of 2025, it donated $500,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC.
Both DraftKings and FanDuel donated to Trump’s inaugural committee. DraftKings sent $502,000, and FanDuel sent $482,000.
Like DraftKings, FanDuel has hedged its bets, contributing to both Republican and Democratic committees. The sportsbook donated $500,000 to both the DNC and RNC host committees in 2024, and at the end of 2025, spent $1 million on both the top Democratic and Republican House and Senate fundraising super PACs.
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