Wisconsin Won’t Get Online Sports Betting Soon as New Case Expected in 2027

The state of Wisconsin will not be expediting its online sports betting any time soon, as a judge on Monday ruled that a court case challenging the state’s new law won’t be heard until April 20, 2027, when oral arguments will be delivered. Wisconsin Lawsuit Puts a Pothole on Road to Sports Betting Progress Waukesha County Judge J. Arthur Melvin said that a decision is going to be reached shortly after. The lawsuit in question was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), on behalf of Brown County Taxpayers Association and Citizens Defending Liberty, arguing that legalizing online sports betting via Indian Country is “out of bounds.” Wisconsin finally pulled the trigger on online sports betting this year, but the idea of granting Indian tribes rights to route data through servers on their land and doing so without voters’ input was not right. The plaintiffs argue that expanding gambling to feature online sports betting must be a voter decision. However, the lawsuit does not necessarily contest the tribal involvement, as private participation is still allowed; i.e., commercial operators won’t be turfed out of the state’s forming online gambling industry. Nevertheless, such commercial parties will have to comply with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which would require commercial partners to pay 60% of revenue. This has also rubbed commercial parties the wrong way, as they argue that the 60% owed to tribes under the regulatory act is “prohibitive” and would outright constrain the sports betting industry, putting a chokehold on it.