Online Sports Betting Coming to Wisconsin, But Not Quite Yet
On April 9, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a bill that will make Wisconsin the 33rd state to have legal online sports betting.
Assembly Bill 601, which is now 2025 Wisconsin Act 247, passed the state Legislature with bipartisan support.
The law states that Wisconsin’s Legislature must negotiate with the state's Native American tribes, which will run the online sports betting industry.
Wisconsin sports betting may take time to launch
While Evers signed the bill into law, it may be a while before online sports wagering launches in the Badger State. The state government will have to negotiate with all 11 tribes to reach an agreement on how to regulate the online sports betting industry.
Evers stated that no plan would be accepted that favors one tribe over another. In a statement, he went on to say, "The real work begins today. 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."
One reason the issue stalled is that not all 11 tribes were on board with legalizing online sports betting in the state. However, they all support it now and will be involved in negotiations with the state government.
The new structure
As it stands now, gambling in Wisconsin is legal, but only on tribal lands. There are currently gaming contracts between the tribes and the state. Until the negotiations with the tribes are finalized, sports betting is only available at some land-based casinos, and online betting is illegal.
Not only do the deals need to be done with the tribes, but they must then have the infrastructure in place to manage the sports wagers. One example is that computer servers for sports betting must be on tribal lands.
Wisconsin would not be the first state to adopt the “hub-and-spoke” model, as Florida already uses it for online sports betting.
The money
The tribes would have to pay the state government a percentage of revenue from online sports betting. That is the current agreement, and while the final fiscal-year data for 2025 have not yet been fully compiled, in 2024 the tribes paid the state over $66 million. However, the numbers are in for 2025 for the revenue taken in from gambling on tribal lands, which is more than $1.37 billion, and that is a 5% increase from 2024.
The revenue that Wisconsin receives from gambling revenue goes to regulatory costs as well as various programs that deal with mental health and the ongoing and rampant opioid crisis.
In 2025, overall revenue for state-licensed and regulated sportsbooks in the U.S. increased by 23% year over year, according to the American Gaming Association.
Will the big boys be at the table?
While it is only a matter of time before online sports betting launches in the Badger State, the major players may not be at the table when it launches.
DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, and BetMGM, which make up the Sports Betting Alliance, were not in favor of the new law.
Their stance was that it did not make sense to partner with the state tribes, as federal law requires 60% of gambling revenue to be returned to the tribes.
