(The Center Square) – Wisconsin would likely see increased revenue but it would require either amending the state constitution or revising a pact with tribal nations in order to bring online sports wagering to the state, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Forum.
The group does impartial public policy research on topics that could be legislated.
Wisconsin is one of 38 states with legalized sports wagering, with Missouri set to be 39th, but it is currently allowed only on tribal lands. Oneida casino has an app to place sports wagers but it must be used on casino property or designated tribal lands.
More states continue to allow more forms of sports wagering since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling overturned the rule blocking sports wagering, called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
States that have legalized wagering have brought in hundreds of millions in revenue, with those numbers the largest for states that allow mobile and online sports wagering across the state.
Wisconsin currently gets annual tribal gaming payments based on revenue that tribal casinos make on table games such as blackjack, poker, craps and roulette.
The state received between $50 million and $55 million annually in payments between 2013 and 2019 until the pandemic dropped that number to $8 million in 2019, according to the report.
The past two years, however, those numbers rose to $66 million each year.
Across the country, gross gaming revenue from sports wagering rose from $352 million in the third quarter of calendar year 2020 to $3.24 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
If state leaders attempted to change the Wisconsin constitution to allow sports wagering, it would require votes in two consecutive legislative sessions and then approval in a statewide referendum.
“Such a step would likely forfeit the state’s revenues from tribal gaming payments, which totaled more than $66 million in 2024,” the report said. “Thus, any consideration of new revenues from taxing this activity would also need to account for these losses as well as impacts to certain local governments in Wisconsin such as Milwaukee and Milwaukee County and the state’s 11 federally recognized tribes and their members.”
The report then points to Florida, where a pact between the state and the Seminole tribe allows the tribe exclusive rights to sports wagering in the state as long as the bets are placed through a server on tribal lands.
That pact was challenged in federal court and upheld.
“This creates a potential precedent for a Wisconsin tribe to seek to renegotiate the terms of its compact with the state to allow online sports betting with customers around the state through a server on tribal land,” the report said. “Though this possibility remains for now hypothetical, policymakers and the public may wish to consider and discuss their views on it. The legal landscape for sports betting has shifted rapidly in just a few years and may continue to do so.”
