Sports-betting-industry-backed super PACs have spent nearly $8.3 million on New York political races this year, including about $4 million since the June primary. The spending has brought the industry into races for governor, attorney general and the Legislature in the country’s largest online sports-betting market.
New York Future, the main independent-expenditure committee for mobile sportsbooks, has accounted for more than $3.5 million of the post-primary spending, according to Bonus.com and New York Focus. The group is funded almost entirely by FanDuel and DraftKings.
City & State reported that DraftKings contributed $3 million to New York Future in recent weeks, while FanDuel gave $250,000. The committee has supported Gov. Kathy Hochul and incumbent Democratic state legislators, while opposing Republicans challenging those incumbents.
Most of New York Future’s spending after Sept. 1 went toward online advertisements supporting about a dozen Democratic incumbents, including just under $240,000 for Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky. Those candidates had supported minor sports-betting regulations.
The advertisements concentrated on cost-of-living issues rather than gambling and were viewed more than 14 million times across Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube. New York Future also spent $150,000 on a television advertisement supporting Hochul earlier this month.
The Sports Betting Alliance, whose members include FanDuel and DraftKings, has now put $500,000 into NY Families Together, a super PAC that registered with the Board of Elections on Sept. 25 to support Attorney General Letitia James’s re-election. The alliance was the committee’s sole contributor.
As of Oct. 18, NY Families Together had spent nearly $488,000 on television and digital advertising. Its messages highlighted James’s work on stolen wages, health-care overcharges and opioid-treatment funding. The group said it supported James because New York families needed an attorney general who would hold powerful interests accountable and protect their money.
The two PACs list the same treasurer and consultant and both work with the Parkside Group. The Sports Betting Alliance also gave $1.2 million to Greater Empire State, a Democratic Governors Association-run super PAC backing Hochul, bringing industry donations to PACs supporting Hochul and James to close to $2 million.
The political spending accompanies a longer campaign over online-gambling policy. As covered in August, the Sports Betting Alliance was among New York’s largest lobbying interests. Since 2023, it has paid eight lobbying firms more than $2 million to influence online-gambling legislation, particularly its stated goal of legalizing casino-style iGaming apps.
A bill to legalize online casinos did not advance from the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee earlier this year. Meanwhile, Hochul has proposed rules requiring sportsbooks to identify at-risk bettors and barring the use of artificial intelligence to target customers; the Gaming Commission was expected to vote on those measures in the coming months.
New York legalized mobile sports betting in 2022. The market has since produced more than $8 billion in gross revenue from more than $91 billion in wagers, while calls to the state’s problem-gambling hotline rose 8.5% between 2020 and 2025. Mobile wagering has been the leading reason cited by callers since 2022.
James’s office has largely focused its enforcement attention on unlicensed prediction-market operators rather than licensed sportsbooks since she became attorney general in 2019. James and Hochul have announced lawsuits against Kalshi and Polymarket, alleging the companies exposed New Yorkers, including people under 21, to serious personal and financial risk.
