Wisconsin lawmakers are advancing a bill that will help legalize online sports betting, but their proposed mobile wagering model is creating tensions between supportive Native American tribes and concerned online gambling companies.
- Wisconsin lawmakers advanced Senate Bill 592, which would allow online sports betting through the state’s Native American tribes.
- Major online betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel oppose the proposal because the revenue-sharing rules under federal law would require them to give up at least 60% of the revenue.
- Tribal leaders criticized the companies’ objections as greedy and disrespectful, while bipartisan lawmakers signaled support for a tribal-led online betting model.
Senate Bill 592 was advanced by the chamber's Committee on Agriculture and Revenue on Thursday by a 5-3 vote. The legislation would make a small tweak to Wisconsin law, which would help implement mobile sports betting via the state’s Native American tribes.
If passed by the full Senate, and then the Wisconsin Assembly, the state and the tribes would still need to agree to amended gaming compacts. The federal government would have to approve those compacts as well.
So far, though, the Wisconsin sports betting legislation is making progress. However, that progress is also creating fault lines between the state’s tribes and the biggest players in online sports betting in the U.S., the latter of which say the proposed framework would force them to sit on the sidelines.
This may have got lost in the shuffle of a crazy day of news, but Wisconsin lawmakers advanced online sports betting-related legislation yesterday. This, despite the big players in OSB warning the proposed, tribal-led model will sideline them in the state. pic.twitter.com/lkDcl6l7Z6
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) November 7, 2025
This, the companies say, is because of the revenue-sharing requirements of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the federal legislation governing state-tribe compacts. The law would force tribal partners to hand over at least 60% of the revenue they’d generate in Wisconsin to the tribes, something operators like DraftKings and FanDuel apparently do not want.
“Online sports betting is a low-margin, capital-intensive business,” said lobbyist Damon Stewart, on behalf of the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), during a committee meeting on Tuesday. “It is simply not economically feasible for a commercial operator to hand over 60% to the in-state entity just for the right to operate in the state. That is why Wisconsin adults would not be able to use the national brands they see advertised on national TV every day.”
The reaction of the SBA to the legislation has now irked Wisconsin’s gaming tribes, some of which are already offering legal sports betting on their lands and at their casinos.
An offensive OSB offensive
Dominic Ortiz, CEO of Potawatomi Casinos and Hotels, said during the Indian Gaming Association’s “New Normal” webcast on Wednesday that the SBA’s comments were “insulting” and showed “greed” on the part of the association’s membership.
In the tribes’ view, the comments by the SBA, the members of which are bet365, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel, imply that the tribes are incapable of running an effective system of statewide mobile sports betting.
Furthermore, that alleged insult comes as the SBA’s members have been working to rebuild and strengthen relationships with gaming tribes, especially after the costly battle in 2022 over online sports betting in California that was won by the tribes.
“And I'm not the only one that was offended,” Ortiz said. “Any Wisconsin tribe that heard that testimony is absolutely more than offended.”
At any rate, the feelings of Wisconsin lawmakers so far suggest there is a bipartisan group who want to see a tribal-led model for statewide mobile sports betting.
“Based on some of the data that we've seen, this is an activity that's not declining,” said Republican Sen. Howard Marklein, a sponsor of the online sports betting bill, during a committee meeting earlier this week. “It's increasing. And I think that it's appropriate for us to deal with this now, before it gets even bigger.”
