Lawmakers in Wisconsin are gearing up for a push to take sports betting online.
A group of lawmakers announced new legislation last week, LRB-4723/1, to legalise online sports betting in Wisconsin. The bill proposes amending state-tribal gaming pacts to allow online sportsbook servers on tribal land.
“This legislation is an important step to bring Wisconsin in alignment with the majority of the country in regards to sports wagering,” co-author Rep Kalan Haywood said in a statement. “For too long, illegal, offshore entities have profited from consumers through unregulated sports wagering, without generating revenue for local economies. By regulating this multi-billion-dollar industry, we can provide a safer mobile wagering experience for Wisconsin consumers and generate much needed revenue to invest into our communities.”
The bill has three other co-sponsors: Rep Tyler August and senators Howard Marklein and Kristin Dassler-Alfheim. The lawmakers sent out the proposal hoping for more co-sponsors to sign on by Wednesday.
Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Policy Forum released a report detailing concerns lawmakers need to consider about sports betting in Wisconsin.
Current sports betting landscape in Wisconsin
Wisconsin lawmakers have not passed any form of sports betting legislation. In 2021, however, Governor Tony Evers entered a gambling agreement with the Oneida Indian Nation to allow in-person sportsbooks at its casinos in the state. Nine of the 11 tribes in the state now include sports betting in their tribal gaming compacts.
The state collected $66 million in shared gambling revenue in 2024, which includes in-person sports betting.
The bill introduced last week would set up a system like the one in Florida, which allows sportsbook operators to have servers on tribal land and where Hard Rock has a monopoly. Bettors would be able to place wagers from anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.
The proposal, however, is just the first step in a process that would allow sports betting under tribal gambling compacts. Ultimately, it would also need approval from the US Department of the Interior.
While there is no statewide sports betting in Wisconsin, prediction market operators have started taking sports event contracts across the US, arguing they are federally regulated to do so by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. State regulators and gaming tribes across the US have responded by suing prediction markets, arguing they circumvent various sports betting laws.
That includes Wisconsin’s Ho-Chunk Nation, which filed a lawsuit in August against prediction market operator Kalshi. Ho-Chunk Nation argues Kalshi is illegally engaging in sports betting on tribal land, a violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
A newly introduced bill would let tribes operate mobile sportsbooks, mirroring Florida’s model, and could generate new tax revenue.