The Wisconsin Assembly has successfully advanced a bill that authorizes mobile sports betting through the state’s tribal nations, moving the legislation to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain.
The bill, which received approval via a unanimous voice vote, seeks to redefine “bet” to allow mobile sports wagering provided that the bettor is situated in Wisconsin and the sportsbook servers managing the bets are on federally recognized tribal territory.
Governor Tony Evers has expressed his backing for this initiative and indicated his willingness to sign the legislation should it land on his desk.
This legislation reflects Florida’s “hub-and-spoke” approach, where bets made on mobile devices are legally recognized as occurring on servers located within tribal lands. This framework remained unchanged after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2024 not to review a challenge against the sports betting agreement between Florida and the Seminole Tribe.
Currently, Wisconsin law permits only in-person sports betting on tribal lands. The newly proposed measure forecasts the transition of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal wagers to regulated sportsbooks, indicating that this modification would “generate additional revenue through tribal gaming agreements and diminish consumer risks from offshore operators.”
Wisconsin benefits from payments that represent a fraction of the net earnings from tribal casinos, although separate figures for sports betting payments are not disclosed. The state collected over $66 million in shared revenue payments in 2024, close to $66 million in 2023, and almost $57 million in 2022.
As of now, sports wagering is legal in 39 states, with 31 permitting mobile betting.
The bill had previously encountered resistance from certain conservatives, national sports betting organizations, and anti-gambling advocates. Opposition groups include Wisconsin Family Action, Wisconsin Catholic Conference, and the Sports Betting Alliance. On the other hand, supporters comprise the Association of Wisconsin Tourism Attractions, Forest County Potawatomi Community, Ho-Chunk Nation, Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
During committee sessions, Rep. Robert Wittke articulated, “I believe our constituents in Wisconsin are better served by integrating this new platform within our existing gambling framework,” while citing evidence that the stipulation requiring 60% of the gross revenue from mobile sports wagering under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act would be excessively burdensome for leading national brands like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics, and Bet365.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu has previously remarked that he is uncertain about whether the bill has adequate Republican support in the closely divided chamber, where Republicans maintain an 18-15 majority. Republican Sens. Rachael Cabral-Guevara and Andre Jacque opposed the measure in committee.