Wisconsin‘s federally recognized tribes will soon be able to offer statewide online sports betting. Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill that the legislature passed last month to make Wisconsin the 33rd U.S. state to legalize mobile wagering.
Evers gave final approval to House Bill 601 on Thursday, April 9, which was the deadline for him to sign or veto legislation that had been sent to his desk.
HB 901 legalizes online sports betting under tribal control through the ‘hub-and-spoke’ model. Similar to how Florida’s Seminole Tribe offers statewide online betting, that approach under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) deems wagers to have legally taken place on tribal lands as long as the server or other device used to conduct the betting is physically located on tribal lands.
The bill was first introduced last October but was suspended a few weeks later amid intense debate about its merits and its proposed model. Reintroduced for 2026, it passed the House by a voice vote in late February and passed the Senate by a 21-12 vote on March 17.
After Evers’ signature, tribal gaming compacts will have to be updated and those changes must be approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, meaning it may be a while before the market actually launches.
Tribes get expanded gaming rights
The bill expands tribes’ gaming capacity by extending legal sports betting from on-site wagering only at certain tribal casinos to statewide online and mobile betting.
Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized tribes all heartily supported the measure, as did the Milwaukee Brewers and some other organizations, as well as most lawmakers.
Evers previously said that he would not support the bill unless all 11 tribes were in favor of its terms. Local media reported this week that the tribes were all co-signatories of a letter to Evers urging him to sign the bill, which stressed the legislation was approved with bipartisan support and the backing of the Indian nations.
Gov. Evers still has his doubts
Evers gave the bill special treatment by releasing a formal statement on its signing on Thursday, in which he confirmed he had heard from all 11 tribes about the opportunities it would present them.
However, Evers admitted that he still had some concerns. While he noted the increased revenue it will bring for tribes and for important state services, he stressed that “important work lies ahead of us”.
“I am not without reservations about signing this bill,” he wrote. “This legislation is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one. 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. What I will not accept is a plan that fractures this opportunity into unequal pieces, allowing some Tribes to reap great benefits while leaving only crumbs for others.
“An approach that exacerbates long-standing inequalities among Tribal Nations is not good for Wisconsinites or Wisconsin. I will not entertain it as governor,” added Evers, who will not seek re-election and will end his tenure as governor in January 2027.
Which sportsbooks will seek to take part?
The model approved by Wisconsin involves tribes receiving 60% of all sports betting revenue they receive from online wagering.
It remains to be seen which sports betting operators will be keen on that approach.
During legislative hearings for the bill, the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) – comprising FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics, BetMGM, and bet365 – argued that the model would not work financially for some of its members. A representative of the SBA said in November, before the bill was placed on hold, that “it’s simply not economically feasible for a commercial operator to hand over 60% just for the right to operate in the state.”
As a result, he suggested, sports betting giants like FanDuel and DraftKings may not seek to enter the market.
During hearings this year, lawmakers advocating for the bill to pass cited concerns over lost revenue, lack of player safeguards, and threats to tribal gaming rights posed by existing unregulated sports betting. They also noted the impact of prediction market platforms that offer sports contracts in Wisconsin as an alternative to sports betting that neither the state nor its tribes benefit from.
FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics all offer prediction markets trading in Wisconsin, although the respective websites of FanDuel Predicts and DraftKings Predictions each specify that their platform does not have sports event contracts live in that state.
