The Wrong Horse? Billionaire Sports Owners Face Democratic Sweep
AI-generated image · US National Wire
After pouring over $100 million into Republican candidates, the sports industry's power brokers now face a Washington controlled by the party that built the modern licensed sportsbook model.
The sports betting industry's billionaire backers may have miscalculated their political hedge. As The Guardian first reported, professional sports owners invested more than $100 million into the current election cycle, frequently backing Republican candidates. However, Tuesday's results delivered a Democratic sweep of both chambers of Congress, shifting the leverage of federal gambling legislation.
On the surface, the industry's heavy investment in the GOP appears to be a losing bet. The Guardian notes that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones contributed $1 million to Donald Trump’s super PAC and $250,000 to a committee supporting Ken Paxton. Former Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson spent at least $67 million on Republican committees. In Michigan, at least 10 sports owners supported Mike Rogers, who was defeated by Abdul El-Sayed.
Despite this, the industry's long-term viability is not necessarily threatened by Democratic control. In my opinion, the shift in power is less about a clash of ideologies and more about a turf war over which bookmakers control the money. The Guardian points out that Democratic statehouses have been some of the most reliable partners for the betting industry. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy placed the state's first legal sports bet in 2018, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed sports betting into law in 2019, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul oversaw the launch of mobile sportsbooks in 2022.
This dynamic is particularly critical regarding the battle over prediction markets. The NFL has spent a decade promoting betting to its fan base, but on October 8, the league asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect fans from prediction markets. The NFL argues these markets are gambling that should be subject to state regulation.
Currently, the regulator the NFL is fighting—the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—answers to Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. advises Kalshi, a prediction market platform. The Guardian reports that the CFTC has sued at least nine states to prevent them from applying gambling laws to prediction markets. With Democrats now controlling the confirmation of future CFTC commissioners and having authored most of the roughly 30 prediction-market bills in the current Congress, the party that established the licensed sportsbook system is now positioned to protect those entities from new competitors.
Beyond the regulatory fight, the industry is eyeing a lame-duck Congress to restore the full tax write-off for gambling losses, a benefit Republicans capped at 90% last year. While the political winds have shifted, the overarching system of subsidies and licensing remains a bipartisan effort. As The Guardian highlights, whether it is the NFL's Roger Goodell negotiating stadium funding with Governor Pritzker or Governor Hochul backing public funds for the Buffalo Bills, both parties continue to facilitate the financial interests of sports' billionaire owners.