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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has signed a bill that will permit online sports betting throughout out the state.
Up until now, Wisconsin regulators permit sports betting at specified tribal-operated casinos while residents can still access offshore sportsbooks as well as prediction markets, neither of which are licensed by the state.
Evers signature came just hours before a deadline for him to act.
The new law requires the state's 11 tribes to renegotiate gaming compacts to offer mobile wagering. The end result could be that mobile sports betting never even happens.
Not What It's Cracked Up to Be
Wisconsin residents will need to wait maybe months as the state must negotiate new deals with American Indian tribes that would run the sports betting. That could turn into an agonizing process.
Evers said he would not accept a plan that treats any one tribe better than another.
"The real work begins today," he said in a statement. "Each of the 11 Tribes must now work diligently-and together-to shape the future of sports betting in Wisconsin. ... An approach that exacerbates long-standing inequalities among Tribal Nations is not good for Wisconsinites or Wisconsin. I will not entertain it as governor."
The new law mimics the framework of that in Florida where bets must be placed on servers that are located on tribal lands in the state.
Under the Wisconsin tribal compacts, a percentage of the money tribes earn through that gambling is returned to the state. In 2024, the tribes paid the state just over $66 million from revenue from sports bets placed at tribe-run casinos.
And it remains to be seen which of the market leaders would opt to offer mobile sports wagering in the state.
The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents FanDuel, DraftKings, bet365, BetMGM and Fanatics, opposed the legislation Evers signed into law on Thursday. They claim partnering with Wisconsin tribes would not make financial sense due to the fact that 60% of gambling revenues must go back to the tribes. They would prefer a state constitutional amendment opening sports betting to all operators, according to Fox 11 News in Green Bay.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
