Sports gambling super PACs place big bets on Michigan legislative races

Super PACs funded by online sports betting giants have spent nearly $3 million on Michigan legislative primaries in July
Most of the spending has benefited current lawmakers and followed rejection of a proposed gambling tax
One state lawmaker targeted with negative ads compared the sports betting groups to “demons” attacking him

LANSING — Super PACs funded by some of the country’s largest sports betting companies spent nearly $3 million on 15 Michigan legislative races in the past month, promoting their chosen candidates in contested primaries ahead of the Aug. 4 election, according to state campaign finance records.

Two super PACs created in July — the Michigan Conservative Fund and America’s Future — are responsible for all of the spending. They have just two recorded donors: DK Crown Holdings LLC, which owns DraftKings, and FBG Enterprises, which is the holding company for Fanatics Betting and Gaming.

The spending is significant for legislative primaries, which are often relatively sedate affairs. In the 2022 primary, when both chambers were last up for an election, no super PAC had spent as much by this stage in the election.

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It’s not immediately clear why the sports betting firms jumped into the Michigan races, but their spending mostly benefited current lawmakers and came shortly after the Legislature finalized a new state budget without a new gambling tax that had been proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“Apparently, I have somebody that is being super gracious in supporting me,” said state Rep. Donni Steele, R-Orion Township, who sits on the House budget committee and speculated that might be why the gambling groups spent $361,000 to support her, the most for any state legislator.

Steele, who is now running for state Senate in the 23rd District, said she didn’t know about the spending until she was knocking on doors and voters told her, “‘Stop sending me stuff, I got the message.’”

Steele said she is no fan of gambling, which “can be addictive,” but opposed raising taxes as Whitmer had proposed. She appreciated the spending to benefit her, she said, because “people want to make sure people like me get in.”

At the same time, Steele insisted, “I’m not going to give or take based on who supports me, because I’m not here for the recognition or the money or the job.”

‘Demons’

According to state campaign finance records reviewed by Bridge Michigan, the sports betting spending supported 11 Republicans and three Democrats. Only one lawmaker was targeted with negative advertising: Rep. Joseph Fox, a Republican from Fremont.

A related website created to attack him, dangerousjosephfox.com, accuses Fox of voting against public safety bills, suggesting he “voted again and again to make Michigan less safe.”

Fox, who’s running in a four-way Republican primary for the 33rd District state Senate seat, is deeply religious and told Bridge he’s concerned about all addictive habits — gambling included.

“I see it not simply as the sports betting outfit, but I see it as the demons who don’t want somebody like Fox to get into the Senate,” he said.

While he didn’t support Whitmer’s budget, he is in favor of so-called “sin” taxes like the one she proposed, Fox told Bridge.

As for the claim he’s soft on crime? Fox said it’s a reference to bills he opposed because he thought they would unjustly increase financial penalties.

The website attacking Fox and social media ads include a disclaimer saying they’re funded by the American Conservative Fund, a federal super PAC funded primarily by gambling companies that did not register in Michigan under the state’s campaign finance law, as required.

“This is a standard requirement. It’s what the campaign finance laws are for,” said Mark Brewer, an attorney with decades of campaign finance experience and a former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. “They need to register and report, or they’re breaking the law.”

The group’s disclosures with the Federal Election Commission don’t detail any spending in Michigan. The similarly named Michigan Conservative Fund did register and report spending in the state.

Neither Fanatics nor DraftKings responded to requests for comment on this story.

Booming business

Online sports betting has become a lucrative and booming business in Michigan since lawmakers voted to allow it in 2019 and legal betting began in January 2021.

Last year more than $5.4 billion was wagered by Michiganders in online sports betting. This June, the state reported $366 million in wagers, a 21% increase from the same month in 2025.

The industry has led a national effort to avoid regulation. Reuters reported the Win For America super PAC funneled more than $12 million into 34 Georgia legislative races this year, using groups with similar names as those spending in Michigan.

The scale of the spending in Michigan is still notable. Michigan Conservative Fund spent about $2.5 million on Republican state legislative candidates in a five-day span. By comparison, Republicans’ crucial caucus-directed political action committees, which support all legislative candidates in the general election, raised about $3.1 million in the first six months of 2026.

All the groups’ spending in Michigan occurred in the last two weeks, a crucial election period after absentee ballots have been distributed in the run-up to the Aug. 4 primary election.

Michigan Conservative Fund spent about $278,000 to attack Fox, who has reported raising only about $58,000 for his primary against Gina Johnsen, Katie DeBoer and Thomas Norton.

The ads on social media supporting some of the candidates are remarkably similar. For Reps. Andrew Beeler and Steele, both of whom are running for state Senate, along with Sen. Roger Hauck, the ads used identical scripts.

“Michigan needs conservative leaders,” a narrator says. “(The candidate) will protect farmers and agricultural producers, fight to lower costs on everyday items, and stand (or stood) firm to protect the Second Amendment.”

The source of the ads is only visible because the PACs are directly supporting and attacking candidates, which requires them to disclose their donors under Michigan’s campaign finance law. Other so-called “dark money” groups engage in issue advertising and are thus able to avoid disclosure.

Other groups have been less transparent.

A dark money group called Michigan Vindicated has been sending text messages against Fox’s opponents in the 33rd District state Senate race, including DeBoer, a Kent County commissioner the group called a RINO, or Republican In Name Only.

Vindicated Michigan has also been spotted sending political ads in races for Lansing City Council in 2025 and in the special election for the 35th state Senate district earlier this year. The only available contact information for the group is the law office of the attorney who registered the nonprofit.