Sports betting is illegal in Alabama. The companies that sell it want that to change — and they've found a quiet way to put money near the man expected to be Alabama's next governor.

The Sports Betting Alliance, a Virginia-based group representing FanDuel, DraftKings and other major betting platforms, gave $200,000 last year to a nonprofit "closely tied to Tommy Tuberville's gubernatorial campaign," Lagniappe reported on September 18.

The nonprofit is called the Southeastern Conservative Foundation. Look at who started it.

Who runs it

State incorporation records show the foundation was created on July 25, 2025. It has three founding directors, according to Lagniappe:

• Jackie Curtiss Cox, who runs a political firm and is Tuberville's campaign fundraiser.
• Ashley Doufexis, the wife of Jordan Doufexis — Tuberville's Senate chief of staff and his campaign manager.
• Louis Breland, founder of Breland Homes in Huntsville and one of Tuberville's largest financial contributors.

None of them returned calls or messages. Tuberville's campaign didn't answer questions either.

The $200,000 was the only donation the Sports Betting Alliance gave to any Alabama nonprofit in its latest disclosures — and its largest grant of the fiscal year.

Why the money is hard to follow

The foundation is a 501(c)(4), a "social welfare" nonprofit. That kind of group can lobby and get involved in politics, and it doesn't have to say who gives it money. The Campaign Legal Center calls that a loophole that lets "dark money" from wealthy special interests into elections, Lagniappe noted.

Here's what else Lagniappe found:

• The foundation hasn't registered with the Alabama Attorney General's Office as a charity, and it hasn't made a tax return public yet.
• In March, it formed a super PAC and immediately moved $25,000 into it.
• Its incorporation papers were signed by a Virginia political-law attorney at Five Rings Law Group — the same firm whose email addresses the Sports Betting Alliance's chairman and treasurer list on their Alabama ethics filings. Both men are registered Alabama lobbyists for bet365, BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and FBG Enterprises Opco.

So the betting industry's lobbyists and the nonprofit set up by Tuberville's inner circle trace back to the same law firm — and the nonprofit never has to tell the public who else is funding it.

What the betting industry wants from Alabama

Alabama is one of the most restrictive gambling states in the country. It has no lottery, no commercial casinos and no legal sports betting, Casino.org noted. The only casinos are run by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians on tribal land. Lagniappe reported that online sports betting "remains largely unregulated" in the state.

The industry has been spending heavily to change that. Lagniappe had already found at least $4.15 million in online sports betting money moving through two federal super PACs into ads and mailers in coastal Alabama legislative races. The Sports Betting Alliance itself has given $1.9 million to one Montgomery PAC and more than $300,000 to groups including a PAC run by lobbyist Steve Raby.

What Tuberville says about gambling

In public, Tuberville has tried to stay out of it. He has said gambling decisions should stay with the legislature, according to Casino.org, and then go to voters: "The Legislature has got to do it first, no matter what it is, and then, of course, the Alabama people in the referendum will have to vote on this," he said on a lottery in 2025.

His campaign has still taken gambling money. In March, it took $30,000 from VGW Luckyland, an online sweepstakes-casino company, al.com reported, via CDC Gaming. In February, he took $10,000 from entities linked to Jeffrey Soffer, the developer behind the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

A governor has no role in the constitutional amendment that would legalize gambling, but signs or rejects the enabling law that decides how it is regulated and where the money goes. Gambling companies have given to Tuberville's campaign directly. Now the sports betting lobby has put $200,000 into a nonprofit started by his own fundraiser, his campaign manager's wife and a top donor — a nonprofit that doesn't have to tell the public who funds it. The gift only came to light because the Alliance itself disclosed it.

It's not the first question about Tuberville's own dealings. He broke the stock-disclosure law 132 times in his first year in the Senate — and a lawsuit, now on appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, says he hasn't lived in Alabama long enough to run.

What the filings show

The Sports Betting Alliance — the lobby for FanDuel, DraftKings and other betting companies — gave $200,000 to the Southeastern Conservative Foundation, a dark-money nonprofit whose three founding directors are Tommy Tuberville's campaign fundraiser, the wife of his campaign manager and chief of staff, and one of his largest donors. It was the Alliance's largest grant of its fiscal year, in a state where sports betting is illegal and where Tuberville says gambling decisions belong to the legislature. His campaign has separately taken $40,000 this year from an online sweepstakes-casino company and entities linked to a Las Vegas casino developer.

Source

This post is based on Lagniappe's reporting by Scott Johnson. Photo: U.S. Senate official portrait, via Wikimedia Commons.