The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has recently filed a lawsuit that challenges Wisconsin Act 247, which legalizes Wisconsin online sports betting through the tribal compacts. The bill would enable users to place wagers that are processed through servers on tribal lands. WILL argues that Wisconsin Act violates the state constitution.
WILL Associate Counsel Kirsten Atanasoff stated that “Wisconsinites expressed through a constitutional amendment that the Legislature may not expand gambling in any form,” referring to an amendment made back in 1993.
With the statement “may not expand gambling in any form” perfectly transparent, the argument is that Wisconsin Act 247 violates explicit language within the Constitution.
With Wisconsin Act 247 aiming to expand gambling, WILL is attempting to hold elected officials accountable and uphold constitutional limits.
WILL alleges that Gov. Evers doesn’t have the authority to negotiate any amendments to tribal compacts. It also states that Wisconsin Act 247 grants “statewide sports betting privilege based on race through tribal membership,” which violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
To that end, WILL’s lawsuit aims to get the court to declare Wisconsin Act 247 as unconstitutional, blocking Gov. Evers from implementing these changes.
The lawsuit was introduced only a couple of months after Governor Tony Evers began talks with Wisconsin tribes to re-negotiate tribal compacts in preparation for Wisconsin Act 247. This comes after Gov. Evers signed Wisconsin online sports betting into law earlier this year.
In their press release, WILL cited results from a recent Marquette University Law School poll, which found that 64% of Wisconsites oppose legalizing online sports betting, although it’s worth noting that this was a survey with a small sample of only a few hundred respondents.
The argument in favor of Wisconsin online sports betting focuses on state tax benefits, where a percentage of revenue from sportsbooks can be used on essential state services. It can also protect Wisconsites from playing at offshore sportsbooks, which don’t have the same consumer protections or responsible gaming tools to protect against problem gambling.
But with this recent lawsuit, WILL is aiming to block this new legislation.
The biggest question that comes from this WILL lawsuit against Wisconsin Act 247 is whether or not it will succeed in getting the court to declare this legislation as unconstitutional, thus blocking online sports betting expansion in Wisconsin.
Given that the lawsuit cites explicit language from the Constitution that states “may not expand gambling in any form,” it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.
Since all 11 state tribes already must also renegotiate individual gaming compacts before Wisconsin sports betting expansion, when you combine that with this recent lawsuit, there’s a chance that there can be a delay in getting it off the ground in The Badger State.
