Wyoming’s Online-Only Sports Betting Bill Signed into Law

Wyoming follows the footsteps of South Dakota to become the second US state in 2021 to pass a sports betting legislation bill into law. Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota led the way on Thursday, March 18th when she signed SB 44 into law, and less than a month later, Governor Mark Gordon of Wyoming signed HB 133 into law, last week, on Monday, April 5th.

Unlike Mount Rushmore State, however, the road to a workable sports betting legislation hasn’t been a smooth one for the Equality State. On March 9th, Wyoming’s HB 133 had initially been rejected before it was reintroduced and passed a day later after a few legislators in the House had a change of heart. Two weeks after the House’s reconsideration the senate added a few regulatory amendments on March 26th before finally passing the amended HB 133 last week on Monday by a nearly unanimous 24-5 vote.

Further, compared to South Dakota where the activity will be a retail and mobile affair with in-person mobile registration, Wyoming’s sports betting market will take the online-only direction, given that the state doesn’t have any land-based commercial gaming facilities yet.

It’s worth noting however that like most states, tribal gaming is present in Wyoming where the Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation operates 4 gaming halls via a Class II tribal-state compact. But then, sports betting in the Mount Rushmore State falls under Class III gaming, meaning that the tribe will first have to successfully renegotiate a Class III state-gaming compact to start offering sports betting.

Sports Betting in Wyoming Expected to Go Live on September 1st

Now that Gov Gordon has set the sports betting legislation through his signature, sports fans in the Mount Rushmore State will soon be placing wagers on sporting events legally. At first, the debut date for Wyoming’s regulated online-only sports betting market had been set for July 1st like that of South Dakota before it was pushed to September 1st.

The two-month extension was introduced after Charles Moore, the Director of Wyoming Gaming Commission penned a letter of concern to the Senate Appropriations Committee about the initial July 1st launch date.  The Director of the gaming ombudsman pointed out that the three-month window wasn’t enough time for his team and partners to draft a workable framework for gaming rules and regulations. Thus, the Senate Appropriations Committee heeded Director Moore’s advice and the newly signed law will be taking effect on September 1st.

How Wyoming’s Sports Betting Monies will Flow

Per HB 133, operators will be paying $100k each for a 5-year license which will then be open for annual renewal for a $50k fee. Vendors on the other hand will be parting with $10K to purchase a 5-year license as well, and after the expiry of the first five-year period, the vendors will part with a $5K annual renewal fee.

Wyoming’s new sports betting law further collects a 10% tax on GGR (gross gaming revenue). On top of that, the legislators threw in a provision that dictates that the first $300K that the state receives from the sports betting activity will be channeled directly to gambling addiction treatment programs. The remainder of the taxed GGR will then be allocated to the general fund of Mount Rushmore State.

Based on Wyoming Gaming Commission projections, the regulated sports betting market in the state has the potential of hitting highs of an annual handle worth $450 million when the market reaches its maturity. Now, if we take into account Wyoming’s 6% hold, this will translate to an annual tax revenue of about $27 million for the state.

While this figure may seem low for an annual handle compared to states like New Jersey where the monthly handle has been edging closer to $1 billion for several months, we also must consider Wyoming’s tiny population in this evaluation. With a population of only about 580,000 residents, Wyoming is the least populated US state, whereas Nevada boasts of more than fifteen times more residents, with a population of close to 9 million. The small population is a factor that lawmakers considered when they were pushing for introducing online-only sports betting laws and of course, the revenue shortfall that was triggered by the current Covid-19 pandemic.