A conservative legal group has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Wisconsin’s new online sports betting law before mobile sportsbooks can launch statewide.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), representing the Brown County Taxpayers Association and Citizens Defending Liberty, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Waukesha County Circuit Court. The complaint challenges Wisconsin Act 247, which Gov. Tony Evers signed into law in April.
Act 247 creates a path for statewide mobile sports betting through Wisconsin’s tribal gaming system. Under the law, online wagers can be placed from locations throughout Wisconsin as long as the technology used to process the bets is located on tribal land and the activity operates under amended tribal gaming compacts.
The legislation does not mean Wisconsin online sportsbooks can launch immediately. Evers and tribal governments must first negotiate amendments to existing gaming compacts before statewide mobile betting can begin.
WILL’s lawsuit seeks to prevent those negotiations from being used to implement the new system.
Lawsuit Challenges Wisconsin Gambling Expansion
At the center of the case is a 1993 amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution restricting the Legislature’s power to authorize new forms of gambling.
WILL argues that mobile sports betting is not among the exceptions permitted by the Constitution and that lawmakers therefore could not legalize it through legislation alone. The organization says voters would first have to approve another constitutional amendment allowing the expansion.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare Act 247 unconstitutional and prevent Evers and other state officials from implementing or administering statewide mobile sports betting.
The lawsuit also raises an equal protection challenge. WILL argues that allowing statewide online betting exclusively through the tribal gaming system provides a financial benefit based on race and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The complaint names Evers, along with Department of Administration Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld, Wisconsin Division of Gaming Administrator John Dillett, and Indian Gaming Audit Director Jessie Dushek, as defendants.
Evers Administration Defends Tribal Sovereignty
The Evers administration has pushed back strongly against the challenge.
Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback accused WILL of attempting to undermine the sovereignty of Wisconsin’s tribal nations and said the governor would fight the group’s efforts.
When Evers signed the legislation in April, the law opened the door for Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized tribes to negotiate with the state and betting operators over how statewide mobile wagering could be implemented.
The lawsuit introduces another obstacle for Wisconsin’s developing online sports betting market. Although Act 247 established the legal framework for statewide mobile wagering, no statewide online sportsbooks have launched under the law.
The Waukesha County case could now determine whether the state can continue moving toward implementation or whether Wisconsin’s online sports betting expansion requires further approval from voters.
Could the Wisconsin Case Affect Florida’s Model?
The Wisconsin lawsuit could draw attention to sports betting in Florida because both states rely on a similar tribal sports betting structure.
Florida’s compact with the Seminole Tribe allows online wagers from across the state to be treated as occurring on tribal land because the bets are processed through servers located there. Wisconsin’s new law uses a comparable approach.
A ruling against Wisconsin would not automatically threaten Florida’s system because much of the lawsuit is based on Wisconsin-specific constitutional provisions. Florida’s model has also already survived a major federal challenge, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review the case in 2024.
Still, the Wisconsin lawsuit could create broader concerns if courts accept arguments that tribal-only mobile betting violates federal equal protection protections. Such a ruling could give opponents of similar tribal-led betting systems another legal argument to pursue in Florida and elsewhere.
Courthouse News | WILL Law | WMTJ
