Milwaukee-based non-profit conservative law firm is asking the court to declare Wisconsin’s new mobile sports betting law unconstitutional
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law on mobile sports betting.
Representing two taxpayer associations, the lawsuit challenges the Wisconsin Act 247, the recently passed law that legalizes statewide mobile sports betting through Wisconsin’s tribal gaming system.
The lawsuit argues that the new sports gambling monopoly violates the Wisconsin Constitution, which voters amended in 1993 to prohibit the Wisconsin Legislature from “authoriz[ing] gambling in any form” beyond certain narrow exceptions.
The lawsuit also challenges Governor Tony Evers’ plan to negotiate new tribal gaming agreements to implement the law, and argues that the law violates the Equal Protection Doctrine by granting a benefit based on race.
“Thirty-three years ago, Wisconsinites expressed through a constitutional amendment that the Legislature may not expand gambling in any form,” said WILL associate counsel Kirsten Atanasoff. “Neither lawmakers nor Governor Evers are allowed to flout that constitutional limit.
“This lawsuit ensures that elected officials remain accountable to the people of Wisconsin by upholding the constitutional limits the people, themselves, called for.”
WILL is representing the Brown County Taxpayers Association and Citizens Defending Liberty, two Wisconsin taxpayer organizations committed to ensuring state government follows the law.
Their members are suing to stop the implementation of what they argue is an unconstitutional expansion of gambling, seeks to stop the law before statewide mobile sports betting launches.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare Act 247 unconstitutional, block Governor Evers from implementing it through tribal gaming compacts, and prevent state officials from authorizing or administering statewide mobile sports betting.