Gambling interests are placing their bets in Virginia, making campaign contributions in the high-stakes 2025 election. And most of the money is going to one side.
"They're betting on the Democrats winning," says Alex Keena at Virginia Commonwealth University.
He points out that the Sports Betting Alliance has given more than $2 million to Democrats and less than a quarter of that amount to Republicans.
"They spend to members of both parties, but they don't want to pick the wrong side by investing in opponents of people who are powerful. And so that kind of tells you that they are expecting the Democrats to win."
Jennifer Victor at George Mason University points out that the Sports Betting Alliance is based in Texas.
"Usually when you are looking at all of the various groups and industries that are donating to candidates, most of them are local. Most of them are from Virginia," Victor says. And so, to have an out-of-state interest that is playing a really outsized role this campaign season suggests there's a lot of money to be made."
Proposals to allow for casinos have been some of the most closely watched bills in the General Assembly. Now gambling money is second only to contributions from Dominion Energy to political action committees in the House of Delegates.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
