Wisconsin Has Sports Betting - But Not in The Conventional Way
There is no state law in Wisconsin that specifically authorizes sports betting - yet such gambling has been legal since 2021.
The unusual scenario stems from the fact that the state’s agreements with each of Wisconsin's sovereign nation native American tribes gives them an option to negotiate to open sportsbooks at their casino locations and at a half-dozen tribally-owned truck stops in the state.
The Oneida Indian Nation launched the state's first sportsbook in Green Bay - home to the iconic NFL franchise Green Bay Packers - three years after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May 2018 opened the door for any state to authorize sports betting.
The St. Croix Chippewa and Forest County Potawatomi tribes followed in 2022. Two years later, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians reached their own deal with the state that authorizes sports betting - although the tribe has not yet opened a sportsbook at its Lake of the Torches Resort Casino.
There are more than two dozen casinos located across the state of Wisconsin, although only six of them featured sportsbooks as of spring 2026.
Mobile sports betting next?
The Wisconsin state legislature approved a bill in early 2026 that would allow the state's 11 tribes to offer online sports betting as an additional amenity. Since gamblers in most states with both forms of sports betting wager more than 90% of the total betting handle online, the tribes could receive a major windfall if Gov. Tony Evers signs the bill into law.
The bill would direct 60% of revenue back to the tribes, which has led the Sports Betting Alliance to oppose the bill. The alliance includes national sportsbook industry giants such as DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM.
It appears that Evers had mixed feelings about the bill as it headed toward his desk for agreement or a veto.
“We’re still working with people,” Evers told a Wisconsin television station. “For me, it’s always been making sure that we have some kind of equity among tribal nations in Wisconsin. At last blush, it looked like that type of equity that we’re looking for wasn’t necessarily there.”
Evers was referring to the fact that while eight of the state's 11 tribes have publicly endorsed the bill, three key tribes have not yet done so. These are the Oneida Nation, the Menominee Indian Tribe, and the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
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Political melodrama over the sports betting bill
While Evers is a Democrat, party affiliation offers little insight in this particular case. That's because in the Republican-controlled state Senate, only nine of the 18 Republican members backed the bill. Its passage was made possible by 12 out of 15 Democrats voting to approve the bill.
Further adding to the intrigue, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu broke with statehouse tradition in Madison by bringing the measure forward even though it did not have majority support among his party.
Other Republicans threatened to try to oust LeMahieu from his post if he permitted the vote of the full Senate. But LeMahieu did so anyway - while simultaneously announcing his retirement. That rendered the threats moot, and now the last hurdle left may simply be for the three remaining tribes to offer the Governor their support as well.
The state House of Representatives also initially was ambivalent about the sports betting bill. First it was withdrawn last fall, with hopes that it could be debated in early 2026.
Instead, the House simply put the measure up for a voice vote on its final day of session in late February. It was said to have passed, but voters have no realistic way of knowing for certain how individual elected officials decided on the bill.
Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington are the other states that have legal sports betting, but only at casinos or racinos. There is a tribal component in all of those states except Nebraska.
The Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee is home to what reportedly is the highest-grossing sportsbook in the U.S..
