Can you bet on the Super Bowl in Wisconsin? What to know about state sports betting laws

Posted by author February 5, 2025 Sports

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With the Super Bowl coming up Sunday — without the Green Bay Packers — you may be wondering: Is sports betting legal in Wisconsin?

In Wisconsin, you can legally bet on the big game — and other sporting events — only when the bets are made on tribal lands and certain casinos.

Wisconsin is one of 38 states that have moved to legalize sports betting, but its laws are more restrictive than most, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Neighboring Iowa, Illinois and Michigan, for example, allow sports betting in brick-and-mortar locations and online. Just five states, including Wisconsin, allow sports betting only through gaming operations run by tribal nations.

“It should be noted that some amount of illegal sports betting — in particular, online betting — is occurring among residents of Wisconsin and other states where sports betting is less readily available,” the report notes.

Legal sports betting is a relatively new phenomenon. A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling paved the way for states to legalize it, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, the report found.

Where can you bet on sports in Wisconsin?

After the 2018 ruling, many of Wisconsin’s tribal nations renegotiated their compacts with the state to allow sports betting at their casinos.

At the end of 2024, six tribal nations were operating sports gaming in 12 casinos in Wisconsin. According to last year’s annual report from the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s gaming division, those locations are:

Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, Milwaukee
Oneida Casino, Ashwaubenon
Oneida Casino Travel Center, Pulaski
Oneida Casino West Mason, Green Bay
Oneida One-Stop Packerland, Ashwaubenon
Oneida Casino IMAC, Ashwaubenon
Potawatomi Carter Casino, Carter
Mole Lake Casino, Mole Lake
Lake of the Torches Resort Casino, Lac du Flambeau
St. Croix Casino Danbury, Danbury
St. Croix Casino Hertel. Hertel
St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake, Turtle Lake

Where does revenue from Wisconsin gambling go?

Net revenue from gaming operations — the total amount people wager minus payouts to winners — supports services for tribal members and “to an extent the public at large,” the report says.

“It is worth noting that these tribal revenues and services benefit historically low-income areas and populations,” the report says.

In exchange for having exclusive gaming rights, tribes also must make annual payments to the state. In 2024, the state took in $66 million, funding that goes toward a variety of health, veterans and education programs.

Revenue also supports local governments — the Potawatomi makes payments to the city and county of Milwaukee, for example.

The report also notes new research on the negative societal impacts of sports betting, including increased bankruptcy rates and debt sent to collection in states after they legalized sports betting.

Those effects were stronger in states where online betting is allowed, rather than only in-person betting like Wisconsin.

Could Wisconsin allow online sports gambling in the future?

Wisconsin’s restrictions on gambling are laid out in the state’s constitution, so any attempts to change them would require a constitutional amendment.

That means lawmakers would have to approve the change two sessions in a row before it goes to voters to approve or reject it.

Changing the constitution to expand online sports betting in Wisconsin likely means the state would lose its revenue from gaming, however.

That’s because the tribal compacts state that, if non-tribal entities are allowed to conduct more types of gaming, tribes no longer have to make payments to the state.

But a 2021 ruling upheld by an appeals court could provide precedent for expanded online sports betting in Wisconsin conducted by tribes.

Florida gave the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to conduct online sports betting where people could place bets anywhere in the state, as long as the bets were placed through a server located on tribal lands.

That could mean tribes in Wisconsin could try to renegotiate their compacts with the state to allow online sports betting throughout Wisconsin, as long as the server is on tribal land.

Oneida’s operations already allow customers to place bets using a mobile app, but those bets can only be placed when the user is at the casino or on other tribal lands, the report says.

“Though this possibility remains for now hypothetical, policymakers and the public may wish to consider and discuss their views on it,” the report says. “The legal landscape for sports betting has shifted rapidly in just a few years and may continue to do so.”