Are Sportsbooks Bluffing About Wisconsin Online Sports Betting Revenue Mandate?
Posted on: March 18, 2026, 09:58h.
Last updated on: March 18, 2026, 09:58h.
- Wisconsin lawmakers have agreed to authorize online sports betting
- The online sports bets must be placed through computer servers on tribal lands
- Tribes must retain 60% of the gross sports betting revenue
Online sports betting is likely coming to Wisconsin, but a key condition of the tribal gaming expansion could keep some of the major mobile sportsbook platforms from entering the market.
Similar to Florida, where the Seminole Tribe possesses the exclusive right to conduct online sports betting, Wisconsin Assembly Bill 601 proposes handing the state’s federally recognized compacted tribes exclusivity to internet sports wagering. Federal courts have ruled that the “hub-and-spoke” arrangement, where a tribal sportsbook computer server remains on sovereign land but takes wagers from bettors elsewhere, constitutes tribal gaming, as defined by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
AB601, if signed or allowed to become law by Gov. Tony Evers (D), would permit Wisconsin’s 11 gaming tribes to conduct online sports gambling. In-person sports betting at tribal casinos has been allowed since November 2021 after the state reworked its Class III gaming compacts with the tribes.
Revenue Share Concern
Wisconsin limits casino gambling to native lands. Sports betting interests unsuccessfully lobbied state lawmakers to authorize commercial sportsbooks, should they wish to expand such wagering to the internet. The tribes, however, prevailed in maintaining their monopoly on casino gambling and sports betting.
A condition of IGRA mandates that “not less than 60% of the net revenues” from any form of tribal gaming remain with the compacted tribe. That means a company like FanDuel or DraftKings would not be able to keep more than 40% of the online sportsbook revenue it generates in Wisconsin through a tribal partnership.
It works in Florida because the Seminole Tribe uses Hard Rock Bet to conduct its online sports betting business. Hard Rock Digital is a subsidiary of Hard Rock International, both fully owned entities of the Seminoles.
The Sports Betting Alliance, whose members include FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics, BetMGM, and bet365, claims the tribal revenue share mandate will likely keep the industry’s major players away, which, in turn, will hamper revenue, the tribes’ benefit, and state tax revenue.
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 last fall. “Online sports betting is a low-margin, capital-intensive business.”
Stewart concluded that Wisconsin sports bettors likely won’t be able to use the “national brands they see advertised on national TV every day.”
Are Sportsbooks Bluffing?
Wisconsin is home to about six million people, many of whom are sports-obsessed with the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks, and the University of Wisconsin Badgers. While the commercial sportsbooks might oppose the 60% share mandate, the market might still entice some to bid on a tribal partnership.
Arkansas, while not a tribal gaming market, requires that online sportsbooks that partner with casinos not keep more than 49% of the sports betting revenue. That kept companies like DraftKings and FanDuel at bay for several years, but the heavyweights recently decided to bet on the Razorback State.
DraftKings partnered with Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis, while FanDuel aligned with Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs. The casinos must keep 51% of the gross sports betting money.
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