Despite failing to pass online casino legislation in 2024, Wyoming Rep. Robert Davis will reintroduce it for debate in the legislature’s extended 2025 session. Davis’ declaration follows a recent Spectrum Gaming Group report indicating that Wyoming would benefit from legalized iGaming.
Specifically, the late-November report calculated that legal online casinos could bring in significant tax revenues without sacrificing Wyoming’s existing gambling industry.
In an interview with PlayUSA‘s Matthew Kredell, Davis said he thinks the study will boost the chance his colleagues will reconsider online casinos in 2025.
The iGaming portion sounds good. It doesn’t support any cannibalization and it looks to be relatively easily implemented based on the things the state of Wyoming currently has going for it.
There’s always a need for additional revenue. The study should help support the bill, give it some scientific factors behind it. Instead of just saying this is what we think, now we have the study saying this could occur.
However, the deadline to introduce a new bill ahead of Wyoming’s 2025 legislative session is running out.
2024 Deadline to Refile Quickly Approaching
In February, after his online casino and poker bill died due to a” failed introduction,” Davis told Bonus that he would introduce new legislation for 2025. On Oct. 1, Davis followed up, telling Bonus that Spectrum’s findings would determine whether he reintroduced an online casino bill.
The gaming commission is doing a study on gaming in Wyoming, and we are waiting to see what it has to say. That will determine if I run a bill again.
Thanks to Spectrum’s predominantly rosy report, Davis confirmed to PlayUSA that he will pursue new legislation. At that time, he said he intended to file a new bill in early December.
I plan on going ahead and introducing it. Hopefully, we can get action on both sides of the chamber and get it going. What the appetite will be, I’m not sure.
However, the discussion of interactive gaming has yet to appear on the agenda for the Joint Appropriations Committee‘s upcoming and last meeting of the year. Among other duties, the committee is responsible for undertaking the legislature’s “Comprehensive Review of Gaming in Wyoming.”
Several pieces of gambling-related draft legislation are up for discussion during Appropriations’ upcoming week-long meeting, which starts Dec. 9. But, as of Dec. 5, online casino gaming is not one of them.
Bonus emailed Rep. Davis to confirm if he still intends to refile in 2024 but has not received a response. However, should the December opportunity slip by, Davis could still refile once Wyoming’s 2025 legislative session reconvenes on Jan. 14.
Longer Legislative Session May Boost Bill’s Chances
In the Wyoming legislature, even years like 2024 have a shorter legislative session focused primarily on the state budget. This year, legislators adjourned on March 8 after only 20 legislative days. The 2025 session will be twice as long, at 40 days.
As PlayUSA pointed out, the extra time should increase the bill’s chances of being approved by a committee. When Bonus reviewed states with legal online casinos, we found that jurisdictions with longer sessions are more likely to succeed in passing legislation.
After posting on X about the 2024 bill’s failure, we found out others with industry knowledge agree.
Jeremy Kudon of the New York law firm Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe responded, noting that the same thing happened with sports betting in Wyoming. However, while the sports betting effort failed in 2020, it passed during 2021’s extended session.
In Kudon’s words:
In even years, Wyoming has a short legislative session. Only bills that receive two-thirds vote on the floor are allowed to be considered. Not a surprise that bill died. Same thing happened with sports betting in WY — it passed the very next year.
When further prodded about whether he believes the same will happen for online casinos, he agreed, citing diminishing state budgets.
Yes — I’m also bullish about prospects in Democratic-controlled states over [the] next 24 months due to rapidly growing budget shortfalls and a lack of alternative revenue sources. We are going to run into unexpected obstacles/opponents along the way (as we already have), but there is exponentially more interest in online casino legalization than at any point since I started working in this space in 2015.
Bill Must Address Tribal Concerns
At the Nov. 22 Wyoming Gaming Commission meeting where Spectrum presented its study, Commissioner Jenni Wildcat questioned the assertion that online casinos would not directly impact tribal gaming.
According to the report, Wyoming could expect $93 to $138 million in online casino revenues over the first year. By year five, the expectation jumps to $162 to $199 million. Based on those numbers, the state could expect tax revenues of $20 to $30 million out of the gate and $40 million five years in.
Further, Spectrum advised—and Wildcat questioned this claim—that evidence from other states indicates that online casinos are “accretive rather than cannibalistic to the casino and distributive gaming sectors.”
In addition to sports betting, Wyoming already hosts three tribal casinos and three racetracks with 39 historical horse racing facilities. State laws also permit charitable gaming and the skill-based games available at local smoke shops, truck stops, and bars.
Currently, Wyoming-based tribes operate brick-and-mortar sports betting but do not offer it online. Even the sports betting apps that operate within state boundaries exclude tribal lands with geofencing. However, one of the amendments scheduled for discussion next week would permit the operation of online sports betting by federally recognized tribes.
Nonetheless, in response to Spectrum, Wildcat recounted an internal study by her Northern Arapaho Tribe that found otherwise.
Wildcat said:
I know the Northern Ara tribe has done a study. It shows a huge impact from iGaming on our brick-and-mortar properties in the negative.
Davis told PlayUSA that he’s unsure if the tribes would want to participate in online casinos. But if they do, he said he’s open to discussions.
The tribes are going to be a critical component, there’s no doubt about that. I believe brick-and-mortar and online gaming cater to two different types of people.
Restarting Discussions is Davis’s First Priority
While proponents of Wyoming online casinos hope the path to legislation follows sports betting’s journey, Davis has said online casinos have an uphill battle.
He told PlayUSA that people will need education to embrace iGaming like they do sports betting.
Sports wagering has a lot more exposure than iGaming. Everyone is talking about sports wagering, ‘Did you see the game, did you get in on the action?
Davis added he plans to file a bill similar to this year’s failed effort and tweak it during the committee process.
If I can get it introduced to the floor and assigned to a committee, we’ll get a lot of comments, and that’s when things can get modified and amended. First, we’ll get it out there, get it known, and get the discussion started.
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