Wisconsin Legalises Online Sports Betting — Launch Date Open
Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 601 into law on 9 April, making Wisconsin the 33rd US state to legalise online sports betting. The law hands exclusive market control to Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognised Native American tribes, using the same hub-and-spoke model deployed in Florida under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). Under this framework, wagers are legally deemed to have taken place on tribal land as long as the server processing the bet is physically located on tribal territory.
All 11 tribes sent a joint letter to Evers on 8 April urging him to sign — a rare show of unified tribal support the governor cited in his decision. He accompanied the signature with a pointed condition.
“This legislation is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one. Each of the 11 Tribes must now work diligently — and together — to shape the future of sports betting in Wisconsin. What I will not accept is a plan that fractures this opportunity into unequal pieces, allowing some Tribes to reap great benefits while leaving only crumbs for others.” — Governor Tony Evers
The law mandates tribes receive 60% of revenues from any commercial sports betting partnerships. DraftKings, FanDuel, Bet365, and BetMGM have all reportedly flagged that the 60/40 split is difficult to justify in a mid-sized market. Arkansas runs a comparable revenue-sharing structure and has attracted both DraftKings and FanDuel into tribal partnerships — a dynamic that may serve as a reference point for Wisconsin negotiations.
Before any sportsbook app can go live, each of the 11 tribes must renegotiate its gaming compact with the state. Those compacts then require approval from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs — a process that could take months or longer. Most industry analysts place the earliest realistic launch date in late 2027.
The bill passed the Wisconsin Senate on the final day of the 2026 regular session with bipartisan support, by a 21-12 vote, after clearing the House by voice vote in late February.
Kentucky Governor Vetoes Gambling Reform Bill — Override Vote Imminent
Governor Andy Beshear vetoed House Bill 904 on 13 April, sending a wide-ranging gambling reform package back to the Kentucky General Assembly one day before lawmakers returned for the final two days of the 2026 session. A veto override vote was expected as early as today.
Beshear’s stated grounds for the veto were not the gambling provisions themselves. His objection centred on a clause allowing the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation and the Kentucky Lottery Corporation to file emergency regulations without governor’s review.
“Authorising an agency to file an emergency regulation in this manner would prevent the Governor from carrying out his constitutional duties and allow boards and agencies to impose rules on Kentuckians without executive oversight.” — Governor Andy Beshear
HB 904 passed the Senate 24-13 and the House 64-19, both well above the simple majority thresholds required to override. Republicans hold approximately 80% of seats in both chambers.
The bill’s gambling provisions cover several areas at once. Sports wagering minimum age would rise from 18 to 21. Daily fantasy sports operators would face a new licensing and tax framework, with a 12% rate. Fixed-odds wagering on horse races would be permitted alongside traditional pari-mutuel betting, taxed at 9.75% in-person and 14.25% online. Negative prop bets on in-state college athletes would be prohibited. The bill also creates a mechanism to tax prediction market activity at 14.25% — the same rate as online sports betting — while barring sports betting and fantasy sports licensees from contracting with prediction market operators active in Kentucky.
The latter provision generated significant floor debate. Several senators raised concerns that the language could prevent Churchill Downs from broadcasting the Kentucky Derby on networks carrying advertising from platforms such as Kalshi or Polymarket. Churchill Downs issued a statement saying it would work with the governor and legislators to address the ambiguity.
Kentucky’s wagering activity grew 54% year-on-year in February 2025, according to figures cited during the legislative process. The state launched regulated sports betting in 2023.
Washington D.C. Introduces iGaming Bill and Sweepstakes Ban
Washington D.C. Councilmember Wendell Felder filed Council Bill 260656, the Internet Gaming and Consumer Protection Act of 2026, on 9 April. The bill was referred to the Committee on Human Services with a hearing scheduled for 21 April.
The bill would authorise licensed real-money online casino gaming in the District at a 25% tax rate on adjusted gross gaming revenue. Initial licensing fees would be set at $2 million for a five-year term, with renewals at $500,000. The Office of Lottery and Gaming would serve as the regulator. There is no proposed cap on licence numbers, though operators already licensed for sports betting in the District would receive preference. The minimum gambling age would be 21.
In a companion provision, the bill would ban dual-currency sweepstakes casinos — platforms that operate using virtual Gold Coins alongside redeemable Sweeps Coins — unless they obtain a full iGaming licence. The District already has an open sports betting market following a 2024 fiscal budget signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
In his filing letter, Felder noted that D.C. residents wagered approximately $700 million with unlicensed and offshore gaming platforms in 2024.
“These figures make clear that iGaming is not a new activity — it is already occurring. The policy question is whether the District will regulate it effectively or allow it to remain unregulated.” — Councilmember Wendell Felder
If approved, D.C. would join Indiana — where Governor Mike Braun signed a sweepstakes casino ban in March 2026, effective 1 July — and Maine, which is awaiting a governor’s signature on comparable legislation. Virginia and Florida both failed to advance sweepstakes ban bills before their 2026 sessions closed. Maryland bills addressing the issue remain stalled.
Kalshi Sends Cease-and-Desist to Political Influencer
Prediction market operator Kalshi sent a cease-and-desist letter to Elizabeth Booker Houston — a Washington D.C.-based lawyer, public health professional and political commentator with more than one million social media followers — after she posted a video on 7 April criticising prediction markets.
In the video, Booker Houston raised concerns about the potential for government officials to use platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket to profit from decisions they influence. Within 15 hours, Kalshi responded with a legal letter setting three demands: a caption clarification stating that Kalshi does not offer markets on war, military conflict or death-related events; a cease-and-desist from further statements it characterised as false or misleading; and written confirmation of compliance within 24 hours, with threats of injunctive relief and damages if she failed to act.
Booker Houston complied, posting the requested clarification. She then uploaded a separate video disclosing the cease-and-desist in detail. That video attracted more views than the original post.
The episode arrived against a wider enforcement backdrop. On 7 April, a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that New Jersey gaming regulators cannot prevent Kalshi from offering sports-related event contracts, finding that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive jurisdiction — the first federal appellate ruling on the central preemption question in the Kalshi litigation. Massachusetts was the first state to go on offence against Kalshi, filing suit in state court rather than waiting to respond to federal action.
Earlier in April, the CFTC itself sued Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois, challenging each state’s attempt to regulate prediction market operators under state gambling law. Arizona had filed criminal charges against Kalshi in March — the first criminal prosecution of a CFTC-registered prediction market — alleging 20 counts including unlicensed sports betting and illegal election wagering.
On 13 April, Kalshi filed suit in federal court in Montana after the state’s Gambling Control Division issued a second cease-and-desist, which Kalshi said contradicted a non-enforcement agreement reached in April 2025. The jurisdictional battles facing Kalshi echo regulatory tensions playing out in European markets as prediction markets expand internationally.
Ninth Circuit oral arguments on the federal preemption question are scheduled in the coming weeks. The CFTC has already filed as amicus curiae. Conflicting rulings across district and appellate courts make a Supreme Court review increasingly probable. Kalshi raised $300 million and expanded to more than 140 countries in October 2025, giving it significant resources to sustain multi-front litigation.
Source: Gambling Insider, SBC Americas, PBS Wisconsin, CDC Gaming, Kentucky Lantern, Morgan Lewis, CNBC
