Wyoming is the Equality State, but when it comes to sports betting, the scales have historically been tipped toward offshore sportsbooks.
That’s because WY has not been in a rush to regulate domestic sports betting despite several of their neighbors dipping into those waters and extracting healthy profits for their tax collectors.
House Representative Tom Walters is seeking to change the sports betting landscape in Wyoming and has introduced a new bill with a few interesting angles on how sportsbooks should operate once approved.
“My colleagues are certainly hearing from their folks at home. This is something they want to see.”
Wyoming Representative Tom Walters, House District 38
The most intriguing aspect of HB0133 is that sports betting in Wyoming will be permitted to anyone over the age of 18 years old. That is in direct contrast to sports betting laws in most states which require a minimum age of 21, and should serve to bring in some traffic from nearby regions.
The state will keep a 10% take on revenues provided by Wyoming sports betting, while sportsbook licensing, regulation, and sports betting governance will be granted to the Wyoming Gaming Commission.
While many domestic sportsbooks require that all bets be made using cash, Wyoming sports betting will allow for many other types of financial options.
Travelers’ checks, foreign currencies, cashier’s checks, money orders, personal checks, credit/debit cards, as well as prepaid vouchers, and gift cards are on the table when it comes to placing a bet on sports in Wyoming.
What’s peculiar about HB0133 is that it includes language that would allow for bets to be made using cryptocurrency. Betting with Bitcoin (BTC), the most popular form of cryptocurrency, is incredibly popular at offshore sportsbook sites.
Bitcoin is still gaining momentum in the US market, but using BTC to bet on sports at domestic books is not the standard. If Wyoming follows through with this legislation in-tact, it could debut the very first crypto-friendly sportsbook inside the United States.
HB0133 will need to pass through several committees and be debated on both the House and Senate floors before it will be passed on to Governor Mark Gordon for signature into law.
There are sure to be many revisions to the language before that time, but the simple inclusion of cryptocurrency as an option reveals that it is on the minds of Wyoming legislators, and has the potential to set a precedent for other states to follow.
The Wyoming sports betting bill outlines a ban on any sport involving athletes that are under 18 years of age (high school sports), but will allow for wagers to be placed on the following:
- Betting On All Pro Sports
- Betting On International Sport
- Olympic Betting
- Betting On All Collegiate Sports
- Betting On eSports (video game betting)
- Proposition Bets On Player Stats Or Performance
- Combination Bets, Parlays, Teasers, Pleasers
Source: Wyoming News Now
