COLUMBUS, Ohio—A super PAC funded by sports-betting giant DraftKings has placed more than $1 million worth of ads backing Republican legislative primary candidates around Ohio.
The spending by the American Conservative Fund comes amid Ohio Statehouse talk in recent months about moves that would hurt business for DraftKings and other sports-gambling companies. That includes calls to ban popular -- and lucrative -- “prop” and parlay bets, and, conversely, legalizing other forms of internet gambling.
The ads, which started airing late last month on TV, radio, and online, don’t mention anything about sports gambling. The digital ads at least, promote their favored candidates with boilerplate conservative campaign pledges, such as that they will lower taxes, defend gun rights, and support law enforcement.
The biggest ad spending so far includes:
- More than $313,000 to help state Rep. Jim Hoops of Napoleon in his Ohio Senate District 1 GOP primary against ex-state Rep. Craig Riedel of Defiance
- Around $225,000 on behalf of ex-state Sen. Frank Hoagland of Jefferson County, who’s looking to unseat Republican state Rep. Ron Ferguson in House District 96
- $170,000 or so to boost Ryan Rivers, a former township trustee from Lewis Center, against state Rep. Beth Lear in the GOP primary for Senate District 19
- Roughly $143,000 on behalf of state Rep. Jean Schmidt of Clermont County against primary challenger Dillon Blevins of Clermont County.
An additional $190,000 or so has been spent in House District 88, where state Rep. Gary Click of Fremont County – a leading proponent of limits on sports gambling – is being challenged in the Republican primary by Eric Watson, a Tiffin businessman, according to Gongwer News Service.
The American Conservative Fund has also spent lesser amounts on digital ads to aid nine other Republican legislative candidates in contested primaries, records show.
They range from veteran lawmakers such as state Sen. Andrew Brenner of Delaware County (who’s running for Ohio House this year) and state Rep. Brian Stewart of Pickaway County to first-time Statehouse hopefuls such as ex-Revere school board member Mike Kahoe in House District 31, Williams County Recorder Patti Rockey in House District 81, and Wadsworth attorney Sean Hutson in House District 66.
The TV and radio advertising spending figures in this story were provided by Medium Buying, a Columbus-based ad tracker. Digital ad spending was calculated using Meta and Google’s websites, which detail political ad buys within certain ranges.
Federal Election Commission records show the American Conservative Fund’s only stated income through the end of 2025 – the most recent date for which records are available – was $500,000 given last November by another super PAC, Win For America. In turn, Win for America’s only reported income was $2 million sent by DK Crown Holdings Inc., the Boston-based parent company of DraftKings, according to the FEC.
DraftKings did not return a request for comment on why they are spending so much money on Ohio legislative races.
But the sports-betting company has a lot at stake in Ohio these days.
On Wednesday, several Ohio House Republicans announced legislation that would impose major restrictions on sports betting, including a ban on “prop” and parlay bets. The move comes after Gov. Mike DeWine called last summer for a total ban on “prop” bets in Ohio following claims of pitch-rigging by two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, though the governor later softened his stance to urging pro sports leagues to ask all 50 states to ban certain types of “prop” bets.
Also last year, lawmakers in the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House each filed bills that would allow Ohio’s four casinos and seven racinos to offer internet gambling on virtual slot machines and table games, such as poker, craps, and roulette.
That effort died, in part because DeWine – who recently said his biggest mistake as governor was signing the bill legalizing sports betting -- has indicated he won’t support any further expansion of online gambling.
DeWine is term-limited after this year; it remains to be seen what his successor -- likely to be either Republican Vivek Ramaswamy or Democrat Amy Acton – will do regarding online gambling.
Independent expenditures can have a significant effect on the outcome of legislative primaries, where in non‑presidential years like this one, only a few thousand voters cast ballots.
In addition, unlike in other recent election cycles, there are no major Ohio legislative leadership fights this year driving large waves of spending, making outside money more visible — and potentially more decisive — in individual races.
It’s not hard to see why the American Conservative Fund is backing some of these candidates.
Stewart, the powerful chair of the House Finance Committee, has vowed to resist any effort to ban “prop” bets in Ohio.
Click, on the other hand, is a vocal opponent of sports-betting companies.
When Click was asked Wednesday why he thought DraftKings was spending money against him, he replied that “Predatory gambling puts money in their pockets at the expense of the Ohio people.
“They want to take out people who represent the people of Ohio and look out for the best interest of the people of Ohio,” Click said, “because their pocketbooks are more important than the people of Ohio.”
And then there are candidates like Brenner, whom the American Conservative Fund has supported with somewhere between $14,200 and $16,800 worth of digital ads even though he hasn’t been particularly outspoken about sports betting or online gambling either way.
However, Brenner’s moderate stance on the issue – no bans on prop bets or parlays, but also no expansion of other types of internet betting – aligns with DraftKings’ interest in maintaining the status quo.
Brenner, who’s running against ex-state Rep. Shawn Stevens of Delaware County in the May 5 primary, said in an interview that he wasn’t sure why the American Conservative Fund is backing his House campaign, adding that he was surprised to see the group’s ad touting him pop up on his TV recently.
“I’m for reasonable regulations and that kind of stuff,” Brenner said. “I guess that may be it. I don’t know.”
Jeremy Pelzer has worked in the Columbus bureau of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer since 2013. Prior to that, Pelzer worked for Gongwer News Service in Ohio and covered government and politics in Illinois,...
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