Meet the Apex Predator Lawyer Behind the Rise of Sports Gambling

Sometimes a shark can't help gloating in public, just a little.

Sometimes the greedy bastards behind big-money political campaigns like the ones pushing legalized sports gambling across the states can’t help but crow to the world about their own greatness. They want everyone (especially potential clients) to know just how badass they are in gaming the legislative system, and through shameless self-promotion reveal a glimpse of their true nature.

At the same time, these heroes of the gambling industry couch their advocacy among state legislatures in terms of increasing public safety, implying that legalization merely coopts the existing, untaxed business of illegal sportsbook boogie men. Making sports betting legal sheds antiseptic sunshine on an otherwise unholy activity, the industry’s promoters argue.

But they typically fail to mention how legalized gambling operators, with their sophisticated advertising and marketing operations, massively expand the total number of people enticed to bet. Another thing they typically fail to mention in their pro-legalization rhetoric is the correlation between legalization and damage to personal credit scores, along with a rise in personal bankruptcies.

No, the chest-pounding legislative warriors behind passage of laws favoring the sports gambling industry want it both ways. They want to present themselves as paragons of public safety and social responsibility, while also showing a little hairy-wolf ankle underneath the sheep’s clothing.

Can Sharks Cry?

Take for example Jeremy Kudon, a lawyer by training and president of Sports Betting Alliance, whose LinkedIn profile and law firm website both quote the same jock-sniffing testimonial from an unnamed senior-executive client:

"Jeremy is the apex predator [emphasis added] of state government affairs practices. You don't just want him on your side when you need to pass, kill, or shape a bill in one or more state legislatures. You HAVE to have him on your side."

In the rough-and-tumble money world where business, politics and law meet, Kudon has been a major force. A lawyer and lobbyist with the gaming and gambling practice at the firm of Orrick, he realized several years ago that DraftKings and FanDuel, two giants of the online fantasy sports industry, could gain more by joining forces and influencing state laws to their mutual advantage—instead of bleeding one another dry, fighting for market share.

Kudon foresaw correctly that by combining political resources and growing the total betting pie across all the states the whole market would expand bigger, faster—with more meat for both parties to gorge on.

When the New York attorney general issued cease-and-desist letters to the fantasy sports leaders in 2015, Kudon led a successful effort to get the state legislature to pass a law allowing the two companies to continue operating there.

“It’s the only time I’ve ever had tears in my eyes,” he told Boston University Law’s alumni magazine.

The Astroturf King

Since 2018, 38 states and counting have now passed some form of legalized online gambling, as the total industry grew from $1 billion in 2019 to $14 billion in 2024. Meanwhile, Kudon has positioned himself as the go-to guy when it comes to “passing, killing or shaping a bill in one or more state legislatures,” as his unnamed, happy senior-executive client testimonial above gushes.

He has played pivotal roles in masterminding and quarterbacking legislation and ballot initiatives to legalize online casino and sports gambling, helping grease wheels and write laws favorable for his clients.

In one of Kudon’s latest coups, Missouri opened up the state through a referendum vote in November that passed by a popular vote margin of only 0.05% in favor— just 7,486 votes out of a total 2.9 million. Only a handful more votes against legalization and the margin of victory would have made it susceptible to a recount, according to the state’s constitution. But any attempt in that direction was stymied by the state’s attorney general, Jay Ashcroft.

When asked about the victory in Missouri for his clients, in an apparent effort to spin the success as a tale of David versus Goliath, Kudon told CBS Sports that his side won despite an “unprecedented” $14 million committed by his main adversary, the casino company Caesars. This, despite the fact that his clients FanDuel and DraftKings budgeted almost three times as much ($40 million) for their “vote yes” campaign.

In the CBS article, Kudon goes on further to talk about the “diverse coalition” that joined together to open Missouri for sports gambling, as if he’d led some kind of broad, righteous grassroots political movement, which it obviously wasn’t.

Leader of the Pack

As quoted on Kudon’s law firm website, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins explains that during his company’s years-long engagement with the apex predator of state lobbying, Kudon has “helped us go from a tech company that didn’t know a whole lot about legislative affairs and regulation to really being sophisticated there… For anyone who’s in a disruptive industry and might be regulated, [Kudon’s firm] really did a fantastic job.”

It takes more than just “disruptive” technology platforms and cutting-edge marketing strategies to build a massive gambling business with government-issued licenses to operate, like FanDuels, DraftKings, MGM and other big daddies of the industry.

You need an apex predator on your side who knows how to cut through statehouse resistance, shredding through flesh and distributing the kill to the right pack members, to grease the wheels and maintain market dominance.

Better yet, you need a $40 million war chest to win in a state like Missouri—or, to use Kudon’s words, a “diverse coalition.”

So says the apex predator, as the upturned corners of his grinning maw part, revealing rows of huge, gleaming teeth.

A glint of light flashes off one giant incisor.

Did he just give a wink of the eye?