It took a while for sports betting in Wisconsin to be legalized. The federal government awarded states final say over their gambling laws back in 2018, and America's Dailyland didn't unveil their first sports betting operation until almost 2022. When they did, Wisconsin online sports betting wasn't part of the equation. Over one year later, nothing has changed. And that begs the question: Will it ever?
To avoid any confusion: Nobody was expecting Wisconsin online sports betting to be legalized in the past year. This was always going to be a gradual process. Many are still waiting to hear how much money the state made in its first full year with legal sports betting. The belief is that lucrative profits could prompt a change of tune.
Yet, one year may not be enough time to do that. Though Wisconsin has expanded their sports betting services throughout the state, they launched with only a handful of on-site wagering options. Even now, with more places licensed to offer sports betting, they don't have a deep stable of bookmaker offerings. As such, the first year's revenue report might be more modest. And if that's the case, it's unlikely to incite any wholesale change when it comes to Wisconsin online sports betting.
That doesn't mean the state of affairs isn't top of mind. Plenty of retail online sportsbooks would love the opportunity to crack the Wisconsin market, which includes major sports teams in Milwaukee and Green Bay. Sports fans and betting enthusiasts would also obviously love to place wagers remotely rather than having to find a casino. But there hasn't been a push from members of the House of Representatives or the Senate to enact change. And we're finally starting to understand why.
The Biggest Obstacle Facing Wisconsin Online Sports Betting
Giving the green light to Wisconsin online sports betting will take more than bi-partisan support from members of the House and Senate. In addition, the state will need to renegotiate their gaming compact with the local tribes currently licensed to accept on-site wagers.
This is how Wisconsin came to have sports betting in the first place. They had an initial gaming compact in place with tribes that allowed them to own and operate casinos. When both parties showed interest in adding sports betting to the fold, Wisconsin legalized gambling under the terms only tribes could offer it—and that it could only be done on-site.
The good news? This proves that the gaming compact can, in fact, be renegotiated. The bad news? Tribal casinos have little incentive to do so this time.
It was different a few years ago. Tribal casinos directly stood to benefit from that renegotiation. All 11 of Wisconsin's tribes operate at least one casino, and the state was limiting on-site wagering to those exact establishments. By legalizing online sports betting, however, Wisconsin would be inviting outside non-tribal entities into the fold.
That runs in stark contrast to the interests of tribal casinos. They won't want to compete with the reach and services of conglomerates like DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel and so many others.
Can Wisconsin Online Sports Betting Overcome Its Biggest Hurdle?
Other states have faced a similar hurdle and implemented partnership mandates that ensure tribal casinos are cut in on the online business.But these situations generally haven't included a freshly renegotiated gaming compact that arms tribal casinos with all the leverage.
In fact, it turns out Wisconsin may have already missed their best chance to include online sportsbooks in the current gaming compact. Citing an anonymous source, consider what the Journal Sentinel reported when tribes first started discussing sports betting options in Wisconsin:
"'Tribes don't need a constitutional change, [they] just need an amendment to the gaming compacts," a source said, noting that tribal casinos were permitted after the state constitution was amended in 1993 to ban new gambling...But, the source said, persuading the state to negotiate with the tribes could be a difficult political task. The state would only be required to renegotiate the compacts to allow sports betting if the state permitted non-tribal entities to take bets on sporting events."
Basically, Wisconsin could have told tribes they would only allow them to offer sports betting if corporate sportsbooks were also permitted to enter the market. The state never did that. They instead granted tribal casinos exclusivity in exchange for having meticulous control over how, where and when sports betting could be deployed.
There is Still Hope for Online Sports Betting in Wisconsin
This all seems to paint a pretty bleak picture. But it's not all doom and gloom.
As we just mentioned, the Wisconsin government has placed serious restrictions on how sports betting is offered throughout the state. They can offer to lift those constraints if tribes come back to the bargaining table.
Cutting tribal casinos in on the online betting profits seems like a good place to start. Wisconsin officials have admitted behind closed doors that they're already losing revenue to remote gambling. Wisconsinites have the capacity to sign up with out-of-state sites, such as many featured in our reviews of the top online sportsbooks. If tribes are cut into the online betting business through mandated partnerships with major sportsbooks and also given extra tax breaks as part of the renegotiation, then everyone involved stands to benefit financially from amending the current gaming compact.
Unfortunately, that brings up another issue: Wisconsin officials haven't yet shown much interest in making online sports betting a priority. And that probably won't change until they have a couple years' worth of data on how much sports betting revenue the state has generated.
Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs:
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