Sports betting industry pours $10M into Georgia campaigns

The spending is independent by law. The candidates cannot solicit, coordinate with or direct the money, and several said they had no warning the outside help was coming.

Still, the industry-backed effort has quickly become one of the top outside spending forces in Georgia’s 2026 cycle. And it is moving money across party lines.

The GOP-aligned American Conservative Fund Action Georgia has amassed $7.8 million and spent more than $7.2 million, much of it on consultants, canvassing, research, polling and media tied to legislative races.

The spending has aided more than a dozen Republican incumbents and candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, House Speaker Jon Burns, House Appropriations Chair Matt Hatchett and newly elected state Sens. Steven McNeel and Lanny Thomas.

The Democratic-aligned American Future has spent more than $2.2 million backing incumbents such as state Reps. Dar’shun Kendrick, Esther Panitch and Mary Frances Williams.

The group is also backing contenders Kenn Collier and MiQuan Green, who are vying for a pair of open seats. And it has spent about $300,000 opposing Democratic state Rep. Mary Ann Santos, who is facing four challengers in the primary.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Kendrick, a Lithonia Democrat who had an excused absence during the most recent House vote on sports betting, said she has nothing to do with the roughly $90,000 spent to support her.

“We don’t coordinate or have any knowledge of who, how and why they support,” she said. “But I have raised almost as much money from individuals who support my campaign, including many Georgians.”

Panitch said American Future, which has spent at least $160,000 backing her reelection bid, “could just as easily (have) spent against me.”

The money appears to trace back to Win for America, a super PAC funded by some of the nation’s biggest sports betting platforms, including DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and Bet365. New filings show its affiliates are also targeting Texas, another major holdout on sports betting.

The spending comes as sports betting has faded from lawmakers’ attention.

Lawmakers have wrestled with sports betting for eight years, but a House vote earlier this year marked the first time the chamber formally took up the issue. It failed badly, with opponents raising concerns about gambling, how the revenue would be spent and how the industry would be regulated.

The defeat left Georgia among a shrinking number of states without legalized sports betting, even as many residents continue to wager through other channels. Now the industry is trying to reshape the battlefield before lawmakers return next year.

For Panitch, legislation allowing a referendum on sports betting is essential.

“Georgia voters should get to decide that question for themselves at the ballot box,” she said. “That’s a position about democracy, not about gambling.”