Tribal stakeholders are the only gaming entities in several remaining states without legal sports betting. They remain content to wait on sportsbook approvals – without or without major brands.
Representatives from tribal casinos in California, Oklahoma and Wisconsin were among the panelists to speak at Thursday’s Next.Io gaming conference, reflecting a patient approach to sports betting expansion. While panelists largely agreed tribal gaming entities need to continue innovating, they wouldn't rush into sports betting expansion – especially via partnerships without outside operators.
Tribal Gaming Background
Most of the 31 states to approve mobile sports betting did so through deals requiring partnerships with commercial casino operators or professional sports teams. A handful, including Arizona, Michigan and Connecticut, allow federally recognized gaming tribes to offer online sportsbooks, either through national brands such as U.S. marketshare leaders DraftKings and FanDuel or their own in-house platforms.
In states with such deals, the tribes agreed to concessions that treat and regulate them more like commercial operators. Under federal law, tribes have certain autonomy to offer some game types on tribal lands, but must agree to compacts with their respective governors to offer sports betting.
In Wisconsin, tribal casino operators reached compacts permitting in-person sportsbooks within casinos as well as mobile betting apps that can only accept bets on tribal lands. Milwaukee-based Potawatomi Casino is working in conjunction with gaming tech provider Kambi on a mobile self-branded sportsbook app, VP of Digital Gaming Justin Arnett told Covers Thursday, but it remains unclear if Wisconsin will reach a deal that allows statewide online wagers in the near future.
IF (and that's a big if) Wisconsin allows mobile sports betting there is a good chance that it would be with these local casino-branded apps and none of the national brands like DraftKings or FanDuel. Still too early to tell. https://t.co/02Q1klxJmM
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) March 13, 2025
Wisconsin law as well as the political partnership with the tribes and the state effectively preclude outside commercial sportsbooks from entering the state without reaching an agreement with the tribes. Though Wisconsin’s 11 gaming tribes could pursue such a deal, nothing appears imminent, Arnett said.
Such agreements require approval from the state governor and would, logistically, need consensus between the 11 tribes, all of which have different historical backgrounds and future interests. DraftKings and FanDuel would likely dominate Wisconsin's market share, as they have nationwide, likely creating a revenue imbalance between tribal partners.
In the meantime, Wisconsin gaming stakeholders are more focused on building their own sports betting opportunities – without having to invest hundreds of millions in marketing like the major brands have in states across the country.
“If the future comes and there's an online gaming that comes to my state of Wisconsin and those big operators with their giant, billion dollar promotion funds and things, that's extremely difficult if not impossible for me to compete against,” Arnett said during a panel at Thursday’s conference. “We have a very strong brand where we're at. We have a good technology partner, so we put up a fight, but we can’t put hundreds of millions of dollars in free bets and things like I can't compete with that.”
National impact
Tribes’ sports betting reticence in Wisconsin as well as California and Oklahoma, come as the rapid state-by-state sports betting legalization blitz slows and new studies show the unregulated market remains massive. Though half of all Americans live in a state with statewide mobile sports betting, a study released during this week’s NEXT conference projects that the illegal market is still twice the size of the regulated market.
Missouri is set to be the only new state to offer online sports betting in 2025. Existing U.S. sports betting markets generated just under $150 billion in handle last year, meaning the illegal market could be as much as $300 billion.
Legal sports betting advocates, and the major commercial sportsbooks, argue legalization is the only way to capture the black market, offer sports bettors consumer protections and generate tax revenue that now goes offshore. Though it's rarely included as part of their pitch to state lawmakers or the public, these regulated commercial books also compete directly with offshore books for customers.
The recent study, conducted by data analytics firm Blask and NEXT.Io, found that even in the legal mobile betting states, offshore books remain among the most popular offerings. In Florida, where Hard Rock Bet is the only legal online betting option, offshore books are projected to make up nearly 80% of the state’s gaming revenue.
Offshores will likely continue to thrive in states that don’t allow major commercial brands, which through their multibillion-dollar marketing campaigns built significant consumer awareness and millions of customers. Without these offerings, research indicates bettors are remaining with offshore operators.
This reality appears to be playing out in Arkansas, the only state with legal statewide mobile betting and no major national brands. Arkansas’ per capita online sports betting handle is among the U.S.' smallest, a factor likely because of the availability of only three smaller operators without national brand recognition or marketing budgets.
Bottom line
This reality could play out in Wisconsin and Oklahoma, two major tribal gaming states, as well as California, the nation’s most populated state and largest potential sports betting market. Should the tribes in any of these jurisdictions open legal mobile sportsbooks but be unwilling or unable to partner with major operators, it could be a major potential lost revenue opportunity for these books and a blow to the legal market overall.
