Wisconsin Governor Throws Cold Water On Sports Betting Bill
Jesse M. Cox Published 26/03/2026
It only took one day for the excitement about the passage of an online sports betting bill in Wisconsin to be muffled. Assembly Bill 601, passed earlier this week by the Wisconsin State Senate, is currently residing on the desk of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.
Based upon the initial reaction of Evers, the bill might be collecting some dust before any movement on it takes place.
Evers didn’t rule out signing the bill into law. However, he also wasn’t welcoming its arrival with open arms.
“I’ll have to take a look at what the bill actually says, but also talk to those people from whichever tribal nations haven’t signed on (to see) where they are at,” Evers told Wisconsin TV station WBAY. “And so, we’ll be doing some talking with tribal leaders, and hopefully we can get something done.”
Evers didn’t offer any timeline on when he might make his decision. Under state law, he is given 20 days to either sign a bill into law or veto it.
On March 17, Wisconsin’s State Senate voted to pass Assembly Bill 601 (AB 601). The bill was approved by a 21-12 vote and gained bipartisan support from the State Senate. There were 12 Democrats and nine Republicans who cast votes in favor of passage. Nine Republicans and three Democrats voted against the measure.
The State Assembly had previously approved the bill. The compact between the state government and the state’s tribes will need to be renegotiated before online sports betting can be launched in Wisconsin.
Major sportsbooks are unhappy about Wisconsin’s planned online sports betting model
Evers isn’t the only major player questioning whether to move ahead with Assembly Bill 601. Under the plan, online sports betting would be under the auspices of the state’s tribes.
Bettors would be able to place an online sports wager anywhere within state lines, as long as the server handling that bet was situated on tribal land within the state.
This is known as a hub-and-spoke model. A similar set-up operates online sports betting in Florida. All of the servers in the state are located on land controlled by the Seminole Tribe.
Among the organizations opposing the passage of Assembly Bill 601 is the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA). That’s a lobby group representing five of the major online sports betting sites operating in the U.S. market. Sportsbooks represented include BetMGM, Bet365, DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel.
The SBA doesn’t like the plan that 60% of all gross revenue gained from online sports betting will be going directly to Wisconsin’s 11 tribes.
“It is simply not economically feasible for a commercial operator to hand over 60% or more of its revenue to an in-state gaming entity, just for the right to operate in the state,” Sports Betting Alliance representative Damon Stewart said in submitted testimony opposing the bill, according to reporting by Associated Press.
Wisconsin has offered legal and regulated retail sports betting through tribal casinos since 2021.
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