DraftKings bets on politics

Politico

18-06-2025

With help from Katherine Long and Daniel Lippman
PROGRAMMING NOTE: PI will be off Thursday but will be back in your inboxes on Friday, June 20.
FIRST IN PI: Sports betting powerhouse DraftKings is jumping into electoral politics with a new corporate PAC. The DraftKings PAC will be led by the platform's senior director of federal affairs, Lauren Pfingstag Vahey, and senior vice president and deputy general counsel, Griffin Finan.
— DraftKings is one of the first major sports betting platforms to start a corporate PAC. Fantasy sports company PrizePicks started a PAC in 2023, and prominent casinos like MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment as well as the American Gaming Association — which DraftKings belongs to — also have their own federal PACs.
— Sports betting has taken off in the U.S. since it was legalized by a 2018 Supreme Court decision, with nearly $150 billion wagered across 38 states and Washington, D.C., last year, according to the AGA. But that popularity has begun to earn the industry a closer look from regulators concerned about personal finance and addiction.
— Earlier this month, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law legislation that will hit sportsbooks with a new per-transaction tax. The move triggered an outcry from the gaming industry, which contended that the fees would prompt some bettors to take their action from regulated platforms that provide state revenue to unregulated ones.
— At the federal level, lawmakers introduced a bill last year aimed at creating new consumer protections. The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing in December diving into legalized sports betting, and two of the committee's members separately called for an antitrust investigation into DraftKings and rival sportsbook FanDuel.
— DraftKings' PAC isn't the company's first foray into political spending: It dropped $420,000 on federal lobbying last year, according to disclosure filings. The sportsbook also gave $502,000 in in-kind donations to President Donald Trump's inaugural committee, FEC filings show.
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FIRST IN PI II — THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY: The National Taxpayers Union is launching a new website that will spotlight the stories of small businesses that have been hit by Trump's tariff policies by posing as a copycat of the Drudge Report.
— The Tariffs Report will emulate Drudge's bulletin board-style of aggregation to feature stories of 'real pain born by small businesses in a constantly changing environment with tariffs imposed, paused, or postponed regularly,' the conservative anti-tax group announced.
—'We hope that the small business stories featured on The Tariffs Report encourage the administration to reject broad-based tariff increases and focus on other policies to achieve its worthy goal of trade that supports American prosperity,' said Bryan Riley, who leads the group's Free Trade Initiative.
— NTU isn't alone in imitating the Drudge Report. In April, the White House launched its own take on Drudge's anachronistic format to promote positive news coverage of the president and his administration.
ENERGY LEADERS LOBBY ON MEGABILL: Lobbyists and industry leaders are increasing their efforts to salvage some of the energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act, as the Senate megabill text proposes cuts to certain credits, our Timothy Cama writes for E&E News.
— Battery maker Energizer Holdings, chemical manufacturer Johnson Matthey, the Hydrogen Jobs Now Coalition, battery recycler Ecobat and the Clean Energy Buyers Association have all hired new lobbyists in recent months to advocate for credits they support. But the true impacts remain unclear as Republican leaders continue to revise the spending package.
TECHNET'S MILESTONE: Silicon Valley trade group TechNet has added three more industry players to its ranks, crossing the 100-member threshold. ID.me, Persona and Runway join the ranks of major tech players like Apple, Google, Intuit, Meta and Amazon at the nearly three-decade-old association.
K STREET'S NEW AI PLAYER: A new startup hoping to corner the market for artificial intelligence in the advocacy world announced a series of investments today from top government affairs and communications firms.
— Delve, which was founded by former GOP opposition researcher Jeff Berkowitz, has secured backing from BGR Group and Rokk Solutions along with Silicon Valley investor Moxxie Ventures for the AI tool Berkowitz designed for K Street.
— 'When you're trying to pull an industry into the future, it requires resources,' Berkowitz told Bloomberg's Kate Ackley, who writes that Berkowitz 'also acknowledges the limits of technology in [an] industry built on personal connections.'
— The AI startup, a spinoff of Berkowitz's research outfit of the same name, 'will use the new funds to hire more engineers as it works to build out its platform that includes numerous news and data sources aimed at helping lobbyists research policy positions and write memos for clients, he said. In a demonstration, Delve's deep research tool drafted a memo on the state of play around the Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs.'
— Delve's new investments come as the lobbying and public affairs world grapple with how best to integrate AI into the industry in order to maximize its potential and steer clear of the various risks of the rapidly evolving technology. Professional associations for the industry, like the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics and the Public Affairs Council, have set out to craft guidelines for AI's use in influence efforts.
ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: 'Just months into the tenure of a new party leader, Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee's financial situation has grown so bleak that top officials have discussed whether they might need to borrow money this year to keep paying the bills,' The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein report in an eyebrow-raising look at the party's finances.
— 'Fund-raising from major donors — some of whom Mr. Martin has still not spoken with — has slowed sharply. At the same time, he has expanded the party's financial commitments to every state, and even to far-flung territories like Guam.'
— The malaise burst out in the open earlier this week with the news that a pair of prominent labor leaders — Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders — were leaving their roles at the committee. 'Fellow Democrats are grumbling that Mr. Martin, who quietly accepted a raise after taking the post, has been badly distracted by internal battles. So far, they say, he has been unable to help unite his party against Republicans, who control the federal government,' according to the Times.
ON THE AIRWAVES: Hospital and patient advocacy group Coalition to Strengthen America's Healthcare released a new ad as part of its ongoing seven-figure ad blitz on Medicaid cuts. The spot, titled 'These Halls,' begins in the halls of Congress before cutting to a hospital and arguing that Medicaid cuts would devastate hospital care.
— The ad follows the release of the Senate's proposed Medicaid cuts, which went further than the House bill. The Senate version would curtail states' abilities to impose taxes on providers, a move that was strongly opposed by hospital executives as the taxes help increase hospital payments.
— Industry leaders and lobbyists are urging GOP lawmakers to reconsider. The ad cites decreased services, hospital closures and longer wait times as some of the impacts of the proposed cuts.
SPOTTED last night at happy hour hosted by the Fiber Broadband Association, the Rural Broadband Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and the Wireless Infrastructure Association at Santa Rosa Taqueria, per a tipster: Marissa Mitrovich of FBA; Colin Andrews, Patrick Lozada and Melissa Newman of TIA; Mike Saperstein and Stephen Keegan of WIA; Makenzie Shellnutt and Mike Romano of NTCA; Harsha Mudaliar of the FCC; Tom Hastings of Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) office; Al David Saab of Sen. Roger Wicker's (R-Miss.) office; Johanna Shelton of Rep. Frank Pallone's (D-N.J.) office; John Lin of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Asad Ramzanali of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator; Tim Donovan of the Competitive Carriers Association; Bill Wilhelm of Frontier Communications; and Crystal Tully of Wiley Rein.
— And at a Mozilla mixer held yesterday on the Glen Echo Group office's rooftop, per a tipster: Linda Griffin, Jenn Taylor Hodges and Brandon Samuel of Mozilla; Halie Craig of Origin Advocacy; Katie Barr and Halley Roth of Glen Echo Group; Chris Lewis of Public Knowledge; Ali Sternburg and Tricia McCleary of CCIA; Colin Crowell of Blue Owl Group; Joseph Coniglio of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation; Khloe Greenwood and Ali Guckes of Franklin Square Group; Keir Lamont, Beth Do and Justine Gluck of the Future of Privacy Forum; Nathalie Maréchal of the Center for Democracy & Technology; Simone Shenny of the Cato Institute; Brian Smith of Roblox; Peter Chandler of Internet Works; Marshall Erwin of Fastly; Christine Bannan of Proton; Tim Lynch of Yahoo; Jessica Jones of Zoom; and David Peluso of KDCR Partners.
Jobs report
— Varun Jain is joining K&L Gates as an of counsel in its public policy and law practice. He previously was deputy general counsel at the Biden Transportation Department.
— Saul Hernandez is now vice president for government affairs at Charter Communications. He previously was a principal at theGROUP and is an NCTA alum.
— The International Bottled Water Association is adding Jeremy Pollack as vice president of government relations. He was most recently with the Water Quality Association, where he served as director of government affairs.
— Samantha Kemp is now director of government affairs at Target. She previously was deputy director of government affairs at Albertsons Companies.
— Kendra Wharton is returning to Wharton Law, where she previously worked as a defense attorney for Trump. She's currently associate deputy attorney general and DOJ's senior ethics official.
— Carolyn Davis is now communications director at Better Markets. She previously was director of external communications at Leadership for Educational Equity.
— Karen Davis is now vice president of business development and marketing at the American Society for Radiation Oncology. She most recently was chief development and external affairs officer for the National Council on Aging.
— Sharmistha Das has rejoined Crowell & Moring as a partner. She most recently was deputy chief of staff and deputy general counsel at DHS.
— William Benson is now a staff assistant for the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. He most recently was a communications intern at America First Policy Institute.
New Joint Fundraisers
Balderson Victory Fund (Rep. Troy Balderson, Your Ohio Republican Team, NRCC)
ROYCE WHITE VICTORY FUND (Royce White for Senate, Stop the Left PAC)
New PACs
Arsenal PAC (Hybrid PAC)
North Star PAC (Hybrid PAC)
New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS
Ballard Partners: Altamed Health Services Corporation
Ballard Partners: Viz.Ai
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Wgc USa, Inc.
Capitol Resources, LLC: Health Resources
Cgcn Group, LLC: Solar Landscape
Chartwell Strategy Group LLC: Uniformed Firefighters Association
Dga Group Government Relations LLC: Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC: 3D Glass Solutions, Inc.
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC: Dc Police Union
First Principles Strategies, LLC: Old North Strategies, LLC On Behalf Of Qualexa Healthcare, LLC
Hogan Lovells US LLP: Click Therapeutics, Inc.
K&L Gates, LLP: Talus Renewables, Inc.
Michael Best Strategies LLC: America's Health Insurance Plans, Inc.
Michael Best Strategies LLC: Ford Motor Company
Miller Strategies, LLC: Aclara Technologies Inc.
Rising Tide Associates: American Combat Boot Alliance
Rjl Solutions: Indiana State University
Rjl Solutions: Trans-Care Ambulance
S2R, LLC: National Association Of Convenience Stores
The Artemis Group, LLC (Oklahoma): Viasat, Inc.
Tiber Creek Group: Patient Square Capital
Vision Americas LLC: Atlas Lithium Corporation
New Lobbying Terminations
Husch Blackwell Strategies: A. T. Still University