DraftKings Contributes $75K to New York Governor’s Campaign

Who would’ve thought that three $25,000 donations would feel like a drop in the bucket when talking about the casino industry showing its political support?

DraftKings CEO Contributed $25K

Chief executive officer (CEO) of DraftKings Jason Robins was reported by New York Post to have donated $25,000 to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign. The donation was accompanied by identically sized contributions coming from Robins’ wife – Shannon Robin – and the company’s chief legal officer (CLO) – Stanton Dodge, for a total of $75,000. The Post’s story goes on to describe multiple donations to Hochul’s campaign, with many of the examples also carrying 5-figure sums.

According to the Post’s report, a big political action committee (PAC) has been receiving money from various sources, with the owner of Square Garden and the Knicks and Rangers teams James Dolan – alongside his family as well – being named as contributors to it. Another contributor was architect Aleksandra Chancy, who owns a consulting business which has been contracted by the state on multiple major projects.

The Post’s story mostly revolved around the support that the Democrat Gov. Hochul received. It didn’t mention much about her Republican opponent Lee Zeldin’s campaign war chest, other than the fact that campaign filings indicated both candidates had approximately $6 million on hand. Gov. Hochul was widely reported as having amassed a total of almost $50 million in her campaign bid for a full term.

Republicans Also Backed by Gambling Money

A report by New York Focus – a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom – also confirmed that Gov. Hochul had received more than $49 million in support during the fundraising for her campaign, which is reportedly the largest in state history. The report also shed light on Zeldin’s, saying that Gov. Hochul’s amount raised was more than double that of Zeldin.

However, these numbers don’t tell a detailed story about where the money is coming from. The $75,000 that DraftKings contributed to Gov. Hochul’s campaign doesn’t mean much in the face of the $500,000 that casino mogul Steve Wynn donated to the pro-Zeldin Save Our State NY PAC. Wynn and his wife – Andrea – each contributed almost $75,000 to Zeldin Alison Esposito, who is running beside him. A crisp $117,000 was also donated earlier this year to the Republican State Committee.

Wynn has been a long-time political supporter, and his funds have been going to the Republican Party quite often. He supported Trump’s reelection bid, and it’s estimated that in 2020 he has donated around $6 million to GOP-related PACs. His largest political contribution has most likely been the $10 million he gifted to Our American Century – a conservative PAC that has ties with the pro-Zeldin Safe Together NY PAC – however.

Wynn’s name has often had a lot of dust trying to settle around it – from sex offence accusations to being a foreign agent, Wynn has been a prominent figure not only in his industry but in headlines as well. Just recently he was finally cleared of the foreign agent allegations against him.