Sportsbooks, Prediction Markets Funnel Millions Into Florida Governor’s Race
Gambling firms, the Seminole Tribe and Kalshi have given over $12M to Florida politics, mostly to GOP hopeful Byron Donalds.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited by the ON360 newsroom.
Gambling operators, tribal gaming interests and prediction market firms have contributed more than $12 million to Florida political campaigns ahead of the 2026 midterms, with the bulk of the money flowing to Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, according to state campaign finance records cited by Gambling Insider.
Donalds, considered the front-runner in the race and endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, has received more than $6 million from gambling-linked donors. The scale of the spending underscores how much is at stake for an industry watching Florida’s next governor closely, given the state’s uniquely restrictive gaming compact.
Seminole Tribe leads a crowded field of donors
The Seminole Tribe of Florida, which owns Hard Rock International and holds exclusive rights to online sports betting in the state through Hard Rock Bet, accounted for the largest share of the contributions at roughly $9 million, including $4 million directly to Donalds’ campaign.
Under Florida’s 2021 gaming compact, all mobile sports wagers placed anywhere in the state are deemed to occur on tribal land because they are processed through servers located there — an arrangement that has effectively locked out commercial sportsbooks from the legal market.
Despite being shut out of Florida’s regulated online sports betting market, major operators have still opened their wallets. FanDuel gave $581,000, almost all to Donalds’ committee, while DK Crown Holdings, DraftKings’ parent, contributed $525,000, also mostly directed to Donalds. Caesars Entertainment gave $245,000, and the Sports Betting Alliance — the trade group representing DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, BetMGM and bet365 — contributed $250,000, entirely to Donalds.
Daily fantasy and prediction market operators have also been active donors. PrizePicks parent Sideprize gave nearly $400,000, and Underdog Sports donated more than $280,000; both companies offer fantasy sports and prediction contracts in Florida. Separately, the Poarch Creek Indians contributed $555,000, including $100,000 to Donalds.
Kalshi, Robinhood and a Trump-linked investor join in
Prediction market operators have also made substantial donations. Kalshi contributed $75,000 to Donalds directly and $268,000 in total across multiple donations, while Robinhood, which also runs a prediction markets product, gave $200,000, entirely to Donalds.
Jeff Yass, co-founder of Susquehanna International Group and an investor in Kalshi, personally contributed $7.5 million directly to Donalds and a further $3.5 million to a political committee supporting him. Susquehanna also co-owns Rothera, a federally designated contract market, alongside Robinhood.
DraftKings, Underdog and Robinhood have launched in-house prediction market platforms, while FanDuel and PrizePicks offer contracts through third-party exchanges — all without a Florida gaming licence or participation in the Seminole compact. Prediction market operators maintain they are federally regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act, a position that has been challenged in courts in other states.
Why it matters for Canadian regulators watching prediction markets
Florida has so far declined to challenge sports event contracts, but the outcome of the governor’s race could shape whether that stance holds. Donald Trump Jr. serves as a paid adviser to Kalshi and is an investor in Polymarket, adding another layer to the political dynamics surrounding the sector.
The Florida spending spree illustrates a pattern that has emerged across U.S. jurisdictions, where prediction market firms operating outside traditional state gaming licensing regimes have drawn scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and courts. Ontario’s regulated iGaming market, overseen by the AGCO and iGaming Ontario, requires all operators to hold a provincial licence and offer responsible gambling tools such as deposit limits and self-exclusion — a framework distinct from the largely unlicensed U.S. prediction market landscape.
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