The Wisconsin Legislature has handed laws that will enable the state’s federally acknowledged gaming tribes to simply accept sports activities bets from prospects situated all through the state. These tribes are already permitted to conduct sports activities betting at their bodily on line casino areas on tribal land, however AB 601 would enable them to broaden their operations to cellular and on-line betting. The invoice was despatched to the desk of Governor Tony Evers (D) the place it awaits his signature.
What Does AB 601 Do?
In contrast to many legislative texts, AB 601 is brief and candy. All it does is amend the Wisconsin statutes such that sure actions are exempt from being thought-about a wager for the needs of the state’s anti-gambling legal guidelines. To be extra particular, “occasion or sports activities wagers” made by folks situated throughout the borders of Wisconsin by way of “a cellular or different digital machine” usually are not unlawful bets so long as the server accepting these wagers is situated on tribal lands and the wagers are performed below the auspices of an Indian gaming compact.
Subsequently, the tribes which might be at present allowed to simply accept sports activities bets at their bodily areas will now be capable of do the identical with cellular and on-line wagers. These bets will likely be topic to no matter phrases are specified within the related gaming compacts.
Present Sports activities Betting Market in Wisconsin
All of Wisconsin’s casinos are operated by tribal gaming pursuits. There are some two dozen brick-and-mortar playing halls within the state, and they’re run by 11 tribes. The unique gaming compacts have been signed within the ’90s, and over time, these agreements have been renegotiated to permit tribes to maintain their casinos open for longer hours and to supply new sorts of gaming.
After the landmark Supreme Courtroom determination Murphy v. NCAA in Might 2018, which opened the floodgates to sports activities betting growth throughout the nation, it took a while for this type of wagering to seem in The Badger State. Tribal compacts needed to be renegotiated first, after which a sportsbook lastly opened on Nov. 30, 2021 on the Oneida On line casino in Inexperienced Bay.
Since that point, different WI sportsbooks have launched, and there are actually round a half dozen of them. Totally different casinos has set their minimal playing ages at both 21 or 18, and presumably, these identical guidelines will likely be in impact on-line. Below the phrases of the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, at the least 60% of the revenues generated by gaming should stay with the tribe.
AB 601 Timeline
AB 601 was launched to the Wisconsin Meeting on Oct. 29, 2025 and was learn for the primary time on that very same date. After passing via the Committee on State Affairs and the Committee on Guidelines, it proceed to a 3rd studying the place it was handed by voice vote.
The invoice then proceeded to the Senate on Feb. 23, 2206 and had its first studying on Feb. 25. It went to the Committee on Senate Group and was then voted on. On the third studying on March 17, it handed with a vote of 21-17.
AB 601 then proceeded to the desk of Governor Tony Evers (D). He has six days to signal it, veto it, or enable it to move into regulation with out his signature.
Whereas Evers initially confirmed nice assist for expanded sports activities betting, his latest statements have been extra equivocal. Governor Evers has acknowledged that he doesn’t want to proceed with expanded on-line sports activities betting until there’s unanimous assist from all of the gaming tribes. Most of them do assist the invoice, however there are a handful who’re opposed.
Wisconsin Governor Tony EversIf Governor Evers does signal AB 601, there’ll nonetheless doubtless be a prolonged wait earlier than the primary on-line sportsbooks seem instate. Tribal compacts would in all probability must be amended and guidelines drafted for this new type of sports activities betting. The whole course of would in all probability take till late 2026 or 2027 to be accomplished, and solely then may we see the primary WI-licensed on-line sportsbooks launch.
Important Opposition to Invoice
There was important opposition to the web sports activities betting invoice. In reality, a ballot performed by Marquette College Legislation College in February discovered that 64% of Wisconsin voters oppose on-line sports activities betting legalization.
Some imagine that declaring bets to “not depend” in the event that they’re registered on a tribal server is a weak try and get across the Wisconsin constitutional ban on most types of playing. Others cite downside playing issues and the problem of policing underage betting within the on-line realm.
State Senator André Jacque, who voted towards AB 601, stated:
When sports activities betting is confined to casinos it’s bounded by location, by time, by effort. An individual has to make a deliberate option to go someplace and finally, to depart. That friction issues. It creates pure limits. This invoice removes these limits.
It isn’t simply these nervous about playing habit who’re against the invoice. The Sports activities Betting Alliance, which is comprised of well-known sportsbook operators like bet365, BetMGM, and DraftKings, dislikes the truth that industrial entities will not be capable of supply on-line sports activities betting in Wisconsin until they group up with a gaming tribe. A spokesperson for the group acknowledged:
It’s merely not economically possible for a industrial operator handy over 60 p.c or extra of its income to an in-state gaming entity, only for the precise to function within the state.
Most legislators gave the impression to be resigned to on-line sports activities betting as a fait accompli, concluding that it is higher to have the market strictly overseen by the state reasonably than leaving it unregulated. As State Senator Kristin Dassler-Alfheim defined:
If we’re going to have on-line playing – which we’re. It already exists on the perimeters, behind closed doorways. It’s already there. And it’s already being abused by some and that’s not going to vary. I’d reasonably us put as many parameters round it as we are able to to deal with our shoppers and maintain the revenues.
You Can Already Wager on Sports activities in Wisconsin
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March 25, 2026 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief
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