DraftKings, others pull back on ads for California’s sports betting ballot initiative

DraftKings, others pull back on ads for California’s sports betting ballot initiative

Article brief provided by The Wall Street Journal
  • Katherine Sayre and Christine Mai-Duc, The Wall Street Journal
October 10, 2022 7:11 PM
  • Katherine Sayre and Christine Mai-Duc, The Wall Street Journal

A coalition of gambling companies led by DraftKings Inc. and FanDuel Group is pulling back on advertising for a ballot measure to legalize online sports betting in California as polls show it is likely to lose.

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The online sports-betting industry’s initiative, known as Proposition 27, has drawn about $402 million in fundraising, according to campaign finance records, the most in state history. But the pro-Prop 27 campaign, which has raised $169.2 million, recently canceled about $11 million in broadcast TV and cable ads they had planned to run through Election Day, according to ad-buying data through Oct. 6 reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The pullback comes after a poll released Tuesday by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley found 27% of likely voters would support Prop 27, while 53% would oppose it.