Wisconsin Assembly Puts Online Sports Betting Bill on Hold Until 2026

• Wisconsin Assembly leaders today pulled an online sports betting bill from a potential floor vote
• Rep. Tyler August (R-31) said bill needs to be worked through and should be revisited “early next year”
• Believes if it had been voted on today it would have passed

The fate of a Wisconsin online sports betting bill will have to wait until “early next year” as Assembly leaders today pulled AB 601 from a planned vote on the House of Representatives floor.

Rep. Tyler August’s (R-31) bill, AB 601, had recently moved forward from the Committee on State Affairs by a 10-0 unanimous vote. However, August confirmed today the bill had been pulled from the Assembly’s schedule and will be revisited in early 2026.

“There’s no rush on this. The Senate is not coming back this week. I had a conversation with a couple of members over the weekend that brought up some points I hadn’t considered yet. So, we’re going to work through those and I expect we’ll be voting on it early next year,” August said.

Bill Does Not Run Afoul of Wisconsin Constitution

Assembly Majority Leader August’s bill – and Senate counterpart bill SB 592 – seeks to legalize Wisconsin online sports betting for state tribes through a hub-and-spoke system and has seen early support from legislators.

If approved, the bill will allow tribes to renegotiate gaming compacts to offer online sports betting through their own platforms or through partnerships with sports betting companies. The renegotiated compacts will have to also be approved by the federal government.

Tribes will be able to partner with sports betting companies, such as FanDuel or DraftKings, to offer their online sports betting platforms to users in the state. Tribes will have to include the partners in their renegotiated gaming compacts.

Due to the bills legalizing Wisconsin online sports betting through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) – similar to how the Seminole Tribe in Florida legalized online sports betting – sports betting operators will be required to provide tribes with at least 60% of their revenues.

While several lawmakers have questioned the bills legalization method, and if it runs afoul of the Wisconsin constitution, August is confident it does not.

“If you talk to the attorneys, most of the constitutional questions that have bene raised in the media and other places were actually settled in front of the state Supreme Court in 2006. There’s no constitutional issue with this at all,” he said.

August also said if the bill had been voted on today by the Assembly it would have passed “for sure.”

Will Operators Want in on Wisconsin Under Current Bill?

During a public hearing, Damon Stewart, counsel for the Sports Betting Alliance, reported if Wisconsin legalizes online sports betting through IGRA and the proposed hub-and-spoke model, the market will not be economically viable for operators to enter.

However, if not by this legalization method, Wisconsin voters would have to agree to amend its constitution (after two consecutive legislative votes to do so). It would likely be a more difficult path to legalization than what is currently being proposed and would threaten Wisconsin Tribes’ gaming exclusivity.

Stewart, speaking on behalf of the Sports Betting Alliance, said major sports betting operators likely would not participate in Wisconsin’s sports betting market if required to provide the majority of revenues to their tribal partners.

The Sports Betting Alliance represents the interests of bet365, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, and FanDuel, several of the largest sports betting companies in the world.