Sports betting advocates spend $12.3m on Georgia legislative races

Sports betting groups have poured $12.3m into Georgia legislative races this year, with almost all of the 34 industry-backed candidates winning their primaries. For high-risk operators and their PSPs, the point is simple: this is what legalisation lobbying looks like when it is funded through independent committees rather than candidate donations.

1. Independent committees spent $25.3m in Georgia’s 2026 elections, and the $12.3m tied to sports betting advocates is already nearly half of that total. It also already exceeds independent spending in the state during the 2022 midterms.
2. Most of the money reportedly moved through Win for America, a super PAC funded by DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and Bet365. Win for America financed two affiliate committees: American Conservative Fund Action, which spent $8.5m on Republican races, and American Future, which spent $3.4m on Democratic races.
3. Industry-linked committees backed 34 legislative candidates, and nearly all of them won their primaries. In practice, that gives the sector a fairly efficient way to buy access to the ballot fight before any actual vote on sports betting exists.
4. Georgia still has not allowed a vote to legalise sports betting. The House rejected House Resolution 450 on March 6, 2026, by 63 to 98, short of the two-thirds majority needed to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. House Bill 910, which would have managed mobile sports betting through the Georgia Lottery without an amendment, did not reach a floor vote.
5. Georgia limits donations to candidates at $8,400 for each primary or general election for governor and statewide offices, and $4,800 for runoff elections. Independent committees are not subject to those limits, which is why the money in this race can move at a different scale than direct candidate giving.

A Win for America representative said the group backs “candidates who will thoughtfully approach the tax revenue and job opportunities our industry provides.” That is the operative language here: tax revenue, jobs, and ballot access, with the actual legalisation fight still sitting at the legislative gate.