TLDR
- Eight Native American tribes have joined a lawsuit over Wisconsin’s new online sports betting law.
- A Waukesha County judge approved their requests at a hearing on November 9, 2026.
- Oral arguments are set for April 20, 2027, and a ruling is unlikely before May.
- The law would allow statewide mobile betting through servers on tribal land.
- The group WILL says it will amend its lawsuit to add race-based arguments.
Eight Native American tribes in Wisconsin will now help defend the state’s new online sports betting law in court. A judge approved their requests to join the lawsuit during a hearing on November 9, 2026.
The decision comes with a longer court schedule. Any ruling on whether mobile sports betting can move forward in Wisconsin is unlikely before May 2027, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Eight Tribes Enter the Case
The tribes joining the case include the Oneida Nation and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. The Bad River Ojibwe, Forest County Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Red Cliff Ojibwe, Mole Lake Ojibwe, and Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican also asked to take part.
No one objected to their participation at the hearing. Judge J. Arthur Melvin of the Waukesha County Circuit Court approved the requests and set a new timetable for the case.
Under that plan, legal briefs will be filed in February and March. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 20, 2027.
The law at the center of the dispute was signed by Governor Tony Evers in April. It allows the state to negotiate agreements with tribal nations to run online sports betting statewide.
Right now, Wisconsin residents can place sports bets only at casinos on tribal land. They cannot legally bet through a mobile app from other parts of the state.
The new law uses what is often called a “hub and spoke” model. A bettor could place a wager from anywhere in Wisconsin on a phone or other device, as long as the systems handling the bet are located on tribal land.
Those systems would operate under existing tribal gaming compacts. Supporters, including the Forest County Potawatomi Community, point to Florida, where online bets are routed through servers on tribal property.
Supporters have also argued that the law has the authority to decide where a bet takes place. In their view, state law can set where a wager legally happens.
Why WILL Says the Law Should Fall
The lawsuit was filed in August by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, known as WILL. The group represents the Brown County Taxpayers Association and Citizens Defending Liberty.
WILL argues the law creates a new form of gambling that voters never approved. It says the state cannot expand sports betting through tribal agreements without changing the state constitution.
The group is also challenging the governor’s role in negotiating the compacts. It says Evers went beyond his authority by using those agreements to broaden gambling in Wisconsin.
Attorney Lucas Vebber told the court that WILL plans to amend its complaint in the coming weeks. The changes will include arguments tied to Wisconsin’s recently approved constitutional amendment on race-based preferences.
The current lawsuit already raises that issue. “While Congress has some ability to provide special benefits to Indian tribes because of its treaty obligations and the Indian Commerce Clause, that privilege has never been afforded to states,” the suit states.
The filing also says the act “provides a benefit to some” and not all, “based on, at bottom, race.” WILL has called the law unconstitutional since it filed the case.
With briefs due through March and arguments set for April 20, a decision is not expected before May. That leaves Wisconsin bettors waiting at least another six months for an answer on mobile sports betting.
