Evers OKs Sports Betting, Pledges To Keep Tribes On Equal Footing

Tony Evers. Photo taken March 13, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.

Gov. Tony Evers signed a measure into law Thursday that will pave the way for people to place bets online in Wisconsin.

The bill would allow bets to be placed anywhere in Wisconsin as long as the computer servers are located on the property of one of Wisconsin’s Native American tribes. In the final days leading up to Evers’ signature deadline, all 11 recognized tribes said they backed it.

In a statement accompanying his signature, Evers said the law reflected “every Tribal Nation’s right to do what is best for its people,” but added that he has concerns about “the important work that lies ahead of us.”

Evers said that it was up to the tribes to determine how best to implement online betting, according to their needs and sovereignty.

“Each of the 11 Tribes must now work diligently—and together—to shape the future of sports betting in Wisconsin,” he said. “What I will not accept is a plan that fractures this opportunity into unequal pieces, allowing some Tribes to reap great benefits while leaving only crumbs for others.”

The governor is responsible for negotiating compacts with the tribes, and according to the state constitution, only tribes can administer gambling.

Throughout the bill’s journey through the Capitol, Evers expressed reservations about signing it if only some tribes were on board. Some of the earliest supporters of the bill, like the Forest County Potawatomi Community and the Ho-Chunk Nation, run established casinos. On Wednesday, WisPolitics reported that all 11 tribes had submitted a letter to Evers requesting his signature.

“This legislation was approved with bipartisan support and has our support,” the brief missive reads.

Indeed, the legislation invited a strange mix of supporters and detractors, with its Republican authors in both chambers struggling to drum up enough GOP support. It was pulled one time from the Assembly calendar — an unusual move — and it passed out of the Senate only because Democrats voted for it.

Its critics vary in their concerns. Some social conservatives and Christian groups reject the expansion of gambling as a whole.

And the legislation received pushback from major online sports betting outfits, like DraftKings and FanDuel. In committee testimony, a lobbyist for those companies said it would force them to pay 60 percent of their revenue to tribes, arguing that would disincentivize them from entering the state, which could lead to less regulated betting processes.

The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has argued that the Wisconsin Legislature doesn’t have the authority to change state gambling laws and that the structure of the law hands an unconstitutional race-based monopoly to tribes.

In his signatory statement, Evers said he would support a “joint venture—with each Tribe contributing, and each Tribe benefiting in equal shares.”

“Wisconsin cannot afford to continue to leave any Tribal Nation behind,” he wrote.

Evers signs bill to allow sports betting in Wisconsin was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.