Potawatomi Sportsbook gears up for Super Bowl as potential changes to betting in Wisconsin loom

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, the Potawatomi Sportsbook is gearing up for one of the busiest days of the year for sports betting.

“We see more people every year coming in,” sportsbook manager Austin Herdina said. “We have a lot of people that come in super bowl week that have never placed a bet before.”

Herdina says there are over a thousand ways to bet the Super Bowl, and that half the bets the sportsbook sees for the big game are placed in the two weeks leading up to the game, with the second half all coming in on Sunday.

“We have about 1200 different bets that you can make right now,” Herdina said. “Everyone is here, the whole sportsbook staff is here and we are ready for everyone to come on in.”

CBS 58 spoke with attorney Lucas Vebber on Thursday night, Feb. 5, about the current landscape of sports betting in Wisconsin and how the current law came to be.

In the state of Wisconsin, it is a misdemeanor to place a sports bet, although you can still place a bet legally if you are at a tribal casino.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, tribal casinos started taking foot across the country, shortly after people in Wisconsin adopted a constitutional amendment that prohibited gambling.

Vebber says that through state court cases, it was established that gaming compacts with tribal casinos were entered before the amendment was adopted, therefore could allow betting, even if it is illegal in the state.

“It’s kind of a questionable legal ruling but it’s one that’s really stood in Wisconsin, and nobody has gone back to challenge it again since,” Vebber said.

In November, a bill that would change the landscape of sports betting in Wisconsin was put on pause, after it was passed by committee.

Assembly Bill 601 would change the definition of a “bet,” and allow people to place a bet on their phone, if they are connected to a server on tribal land.

Vebber believes it is a loophole to the state constitution, and that an amendment needs to be passed first.

“If the people in Wisconsin want more sports betting all we need to do is amend the constitution,” Vebber said. “It’s a pretty simple amendment to get rid of that and then we can delete the statutes that prohibit it and open the market up to competition.”