In 2026, Wisconsin statesmen and women voted online sports betting into law – albeit in a restricted and tightly controlled way – for the first time.
The fact that it took so much longer than most other states to get as far as it has is reflective of the Badger State’s cautious and controlled approach to gambling throughout history. As well as the structural issues that changing the existing legal framework would cause.
Unlike states that were chomping at the bit for gambling tax income after PASPA was repealed in 2018, Wisconsin’s gambling landscape has come in the form of narrow exceptions rather than full legalisation. They may have got there now, but they are one of the last states to do so.
Here’s how it happened.
A History of Gambling
Like the majority of other states, gambling was more or less illegal in Wisconsin for most of the 20th century.
Gradually, certain forms of ‘soft gambling’ were legalised:
- 1965 – Contests
- 1973 – Bingo
- 1977 – Raffles
- 1987 – Pari-mutuel on-track betting
- 1988 – Wisconsin State Lottery
As you can see though, there was never a bookmaker or a house involved.
Contests, bingo, and raffles were mainly legalised to allow charitable gaming, and pari-mutuel betting is essential betting against other punters, not the house.
It was only ever intended to provide these services or entertainments in limited and clearly defined settings. Then came the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
Tribal Casinos and PASPA
After IGRA was passed, the first tribal casino was opened by the Oneida Nation. It actually already existed offering high stakes bingo, but they soon expanded to slots, card games, and table games – anything that came under a Class III license.
Compacts were signed with 11 tribes in all, giving them exclusive rights to run Class III gaming establishments. So casino gambling was now legal, but it was not a free market, and sports betting was still illegal.
Then, in 2018, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was repealed, handing decisions on the legalisation of spots betting back to state lawmakers. One by one, many US states moved to change the law to allow sports betting, but Wisconsin was not one of them.
Instead, they simply expanded their tribal compacts to allow the tribes to offer sports betting in a retail capacity only. In other words, casinos could have a bookmaker onsite, but that was the only place a bet could be made. Commercial sportsbooks were still not welcome in Wisconsin.
The first sportsbook in Wisconsin opened in 2021, and it was once again it was Oneida Nation leading the charge.
Online Betting Makes its Entry
MLS fans who like the odd bet will have been pleased to hear that online betting was going to be legalised in the state of Wisconsin.
In April 2026, another progressive step was made when Assembly Bill 601 was passed into law. This allowed legalised sports betting across the entirety of America’s Dairyland – but characteristically, only under very specific conditions.
It would take major legal changes to allow commercial online betting companies to enter the market, so instead, the state adapted their existing legislation.
Online betting was now legal, but it still had to take place on tribal land. The way they got around this, was to ensure all servers processing online bets were located on tribal land. This way, all bets were technically being made within the boundaries set out by the law.
Wisconsinites could be sat at home watching their favourite soccer team, place a bet on their phone, and that bet would be made via tribal-operated systems.
Betting Rules
Now it is up and running, the various different tribes can offer odds on anything they like so long as it is legal.
They each have their own compacts negotiated with the state, so the amount they give back will vary from one to the next, but nevertheless, the state takes a cut. It typically ranges from 2% to 5% of gaming revenue, and is not a tax, but a fee for exclusive rights to gaming and betting in the state.
All punters must be over the age of 21 of course, and valid ID must be used to prove each person’s identity when registering an account. Punters must be within state lines when placing the bet in order for it to go through as well. Geofencing is used to ensure compliance with this sort of thing.
Betting on credit is not allowed either.
MLS and Soccer in Wisconsin
The biggest professional soccer team in Wisconsin is Forward Madison FC, who play in USL1, the third tier of US soccer. They have only been in existence a short time, taking part in their first season in 2019. This tells you a lot about where Wisconsin stands on soccer: growing interest but still very much on the fringe as a professional sport.
There is no MLS club in the state, and it’s unlikely that there ever will be. Why? It’s a state of roughly 6 million people, and they are well spread out. That said, the biggest city is Milwaukee, with a population of around 580,000 people, which is more than some others with a Major League Soccer team. The real reason then, is the Green Bay Packers.
Despite coming from a small market, the Packers are one of the best supported NFL teams in the country, and the reason for that is they are the only team that is publicly owned. More than 538,000 shareholders ‘own’ the club, which is not run for profit as a result. This is not a setup that would work with MLS, given that it operates a single entity model and is very much run for profit, and besides, it would be difficult for a new soccer club to establish itself in a place so dedicated to NFL.
A lot of soccer is played in the state at lower levels though, and there is potentially some regional spill over as far as MLS is concerned. Minnesota United is not far from those in the West of Wisconsin, and Chicago Fire FC lie to the South East, which is where Wisconsin’s population is most dense, but they do not have an MLS team of their own.