- A new bill could fundamentally reshape the way Wisconsin residents place sports wagers going forward.
- Not everyone is on board, particularly the major national operators who stand to lose the most under the proposed structure.
- All eyes are now on Governor Evers, whose signature is the last thing standing between Wisconsin and a new era of mobile wagering.
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin lawmakers have sent a bill to Governor Tony Evers that would legalize statewide online sports betting, with the state Senate passing Assembly Bill 601 on a 21-12 vote Tuesday.
Through a system where bets are handled through servers situated on tribal grounds, AB 601 would enable Wisconsin’s Native American tribes to provide mobile sports betting to anybody in the state.
Sports wagers may only be made in person at tribal casinos, according to current Wisconsin law. The new law employs a hub-and-spoke arrangement in which bettors from all across the state join as the spokes and the tribe’s server serves as the hub.
The arrangement gets around the state’s constitutional prohibitions on gambling because bets are technically handled on sovereign tribe grounds. The Seminole Tribe of Florida launched its own mobile betting operation using the same concept.
What This Means for Bettors
Governor Evers has refrained from pledging to sign. Although he had long linked his support to broad tribal support, some of Wisconsin’s 11 recognized tribes have not yet formally declared their support, making it unclear what Evers’ ultimate decision will be.
If the bill were to pass, Wisconsin would join the states that have already permitted sports betting in one form or another. Tribes would have to revise their gaming compacts – official state agreements that specify what gaming operations they are allowed to engage in—before asking for federal approval to move forward. Residents may still have to wait a long time as a result.
Similar procedures were followed in North Carolina, where legal sports betting didn’t begin until nine months after the governor’s signature. Wisconsin should probably anticipate a similar delay.
The law has been opposed by major operators like DraftKings and FanDuel, who claim that the revenue structure, which returns 60% of gambling proceeds to tribal partners, makes it financially impossible for outside businesses to enter the Wisconsin market. In contrast to the major brands that bettors are familiar with from other states, Wisconsin sportsbooks would more than likely be operated only through tribe platforms.
All eyes will be on Evers to see if he determines that the tribal support is sufficient to proceed, as the governor’s pen is now the only thing preventing Wisconsin from entering a new era of mobile betting.
