{"id":14508,"date":"2026-03-18T12:57:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/?p=14508"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:57:59","slug":"wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Senate Passes Online Sports Betting Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/wisconsin.jpg\" alt=\"Wisconsin\" width=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Senate passes bill allowing wagers on tribal servers, with Democrats\u2019 support helping secure votes. <\/li>\n<li>The bill is now heading to Democratic Governor Tony Evers.<\/li>\n<li>Bills for UW-Madison NIL deals, food assistance updates, and internet crimes against children were also approved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill legalizing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/sports-betting\">online sports betting<\/a> Tuesday, with Democrats helping Republican Senate Majority Leader <strong>Devin LeMahieu<\/strong> secure the votes. <\/p>\n<p>The measure applies only to wagers placed on servers located on federally recognized tribal lands and will next reach Democratic <strong>Gov. Tony Evers<\/strong>\u2019 desk for further consideration.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cWe Need Safeguards for Consumers\u201d <\/h2>\n<p>The vote highlighted sharp divisions among Republicans, with <strong>50% of GOP senators concerned about gambling additction opposing the bill<\/strong>, and Democrats arguing the measure would benefit Wisconsin\u2019s Native American tribes. <\/p>\n<p>National operators like <strong>DraftKings and FanDuel stood against the plan<\/strong>, which would require them to pay 60% of revenue to the tribes if they operate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/us\/states\/wisconsin\">Wisconsin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim<\/strong>, D-Appleton. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This is already happening behind the scenes, and we need safeguards for consumers while keeping revenue local<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Sen. Steve Nass<\/strong>, R-Whitewater went against the bill, calling it \u201c<em>another example of what\u2019s wrong with politics<\/em>\u201d and pointing to a Marquette University poll showing 64% of Wisconsinites oppose legalizing online betting.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hE9-QMYbO90?si=8Uvcp3aJiO648ajN\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Other Legislation That Passed <\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.legis.wisconsin.gov\/2025\/related\/proposals\/ab1034.pdf\">Assembly Bill 1034<\/a> allocating over $14 million to UW-Madison cleared the Senate <em>17-16<\/em>, allowing the <strong>university to support student athletes\u2019 name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Senators also approved a major revamp of a GOP food assistance bill, adding funding and staff to comply with federal law while maintaining restrictions on unhealthy purchases. The bill passed 25-8 and will now reach the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans passed a constitutional amendment proposal to prevent future governors from using the state\u2019s unique \u201c<em>400-year veto<\/em>\u201d to increase taxes or fees. It passed 18-15 and will appear on the November ballot for voters.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers also unanimously approved an extra $400,000 for DOJ efforts to combat internet crimes targeting minors and added staff positions to strengthen investigations and awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>The day\u2019s session was the final one of the legislative period, with senators considering over 80 bills. The online sports betting legislation <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.legis.wisconsin.gov\/2025\/related\/proposals\/ab601.pdf\">Assembly Bill 601<\/a> stood out for its bipartisan maneuvering and potential impact on tribal revenue and the state\u2019s gaming landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: Senate passes bill allowing wagers on tribal servers, with Democrats\u2019 support helping secure votes. The bill is now heading to Democratic Governor Tony Evers. Bills for UW-Madison NIL deals, food assistance updates, and internet crimes against children were also approved. The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill legalizing online sports betting Tuesday, with Democrats helping [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legislation","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wisconsin Senate Passes Online Sports Betting Bill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A divided Wisconsin Senate gave the green light to an important online sports betting bill with help from the Democrats, sending the tribal-focused plan to Gov. Tony Evers for review.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wisconsin Senate Passes Online Sports Betting Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A divided Wisconsin Senate gave the green light to an important online sports betting bill with help from the Democrats, sending the tribal-focused plan to Gov. Tony Evers for review.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T12:57:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/wisconsin.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ella McDonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ella McDonald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ella McDonald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1847ac7fb6ef98e52b80c47d530441b2\"},\"headline\":\"Wisconsin Senate Passes Online Sports Betting Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T12:57:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":382,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/wisconsin.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Legislation\",\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/\",\"name\":\"Wisconsin Senate Passes Online Sports Betting Bill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/wisconsin-senate-passes-online-sports-betting-bill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/wisconsin.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T12:57:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legitgambling.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1847ac7fb6ef98e52b80c47d530441b2\"},\"description\":\"A divided Wisconsin Senate gave the green light to an important online sports betting bill with help from the Democrats, sending the tribal-focused plan to Gov. 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