(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s online sports wagering bill won’t be voted on during session Wednesday, Rep. Tyler August confirmed on Wednesday morning.
He said that the decision came after conversations with colleagues about the bill over the weekend but would not detail what those conversations included. August said that he believes the bill would have passed if it was voted on and that it should be back early in 2026.
“There’s really no rush on this,” August said. “… I had a conversation with a couple members over the weekend that brought up some points that I hadn’t considered yet, so we’re going to work through those and I expect that we will be voting on it early next year.”
August explains that the delay came out of conversations over the weekend with colleagues, not constitutional issues. pic.twitter.com/TmdzubWnwb— Jon Styf (@JonStyf) November 19, 2025
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, said that she would support Assembly Bill 601 and Gov. Tony Evers has indicated support for the idea of statewide online sports wagering through the state’s tribes.
“We know that our tribes in Wisconsin have the right to control gaming in our state and that’s not happening with online sports betting,” Neubauer said. “I do hope that we pass a bill that puts control of that industry back in their hands.”
The move comes after August sent a memo to fellow lawmakers earlier in the week urging the bill’s passage as prediction markets – similar to sports wagering but allowed through federal oversight – are available across the country.
“If we leave a gray area in state law, national prediction platforms will fill it without our compact framework, Wisconsin oversight, or Wisconsin consumer safeguards,” August wrote. “AB 601 does the opposite: it channels activity into a regulated, Wisconsin-based, compacted environment with clear jurisdiction and accountability. This protects consumers, respects tribal sovereignty, and keeps revenue tied to Wisconsin operations rather than flowing to unaligned national apps.”
The proposal would also need to be approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Tony Evers, who has indicated he would approve of a bill keeping gaming with the tribes.
The proposal would change the state’s definition of “bet” to allow the tribes to offer mobile sports wagering as long as the better is in Wisconsin and the sportsbook servers are on tribal land, an amendment to current compacts allowing for casino gambling and sports wagering on tribal lands despite the state’s ban on betting.
Prediction markets, however, have taken off this fall during football season with offerings very similar to sportsbooks where operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket offer what they call event contracts where users pick a side in a matchup or election and put their money behind that side against other users.
States tax regulated sportsbooks but are not able to tax the prediction markets. In Wisconsin’s case, the bill would pave the way for tribal online sports wagering that is subject to revenue sharing pacts between the 11 recognized tribes and the state.
