As promised after 2024’s failed attempt, Wyoming State Rep. Robert Davis has introduced a new bill to legalize online casinos in the Cowboy State.
House Bill 0162 (HB0162), which Davis introduced on Jan. 14, would charge the Wyoming Gaming Commission with regulating online casinos. As introduced, the bill suggests a regulatory framework, including fees and tax rates. It also presents revenue projections based on a recent study by Spectrum Gaming Group.
The proposed legislation is cosponsored by Representatives Landon Brown, Joshua Larson, and Rueben Tarver and Senators Eric Barlow, Stephan Pappas, and Wendy Davis Schuler.
HB0162 follows failed 2024 legalization attempt
Last year, Rep. Davis’s bill, HB1020, came to a quick end after it “failed introduction” at the start of the state’s legislative session.
However, after Spectrum released its favorable report, Davis said he’d restart the process in 2025. This week, Davis followed through on that promise with the introduction of HB1062.
As proposed, the bill permits at least five online licenses, with a five-year licensing fee of $100,000 and $50,000 for subsequent renewals. The legislation also calls for a 16% tax rate on online revenues, with the first $300,000 collected going to the Department of Health to be redistributed to the counties to fund county health programs to “prevent and treat problematic gaming behavior.”
Beyond that, the state will divide revenues in three ways:
- 40% to state counties (based on population)
- 50% to the school foundation program
- 10% to the WGC, in part, to cover administrative expenses.
Wyoming tribes would have limited market access
Another noteworthy aspect of the Wyoming online casino bill is that it explicitly rejects the “Florida model” of online wagering, which allows tribes to serve bettors anywhere in the state as long as the servers are on tribal lands.
The Florida model is based on the premise that online bets “take place” wherever the operator’s servers are, legally speaking. Davis’s bill asserts that the location of a bet is deemed to be that of the person placing the bet. That means if either of the two federally-recognized tribes in Wyoming wishes to offer online casino gaming through a compact, it would be able to do so solely for bettors physically located within its territory. For a tribe to offer gaming state-wide, it would need to be licensed as a commercial operator.
However, HB1062 also limits licenses to “qualified gaming entities,” which it defines as those already operating regulated online gaming in “not less than three” US states. So, before either tribe could become a Wyoming commercial operator, it would have to launch a product in other markets first.
The same rule has ramifications for some national commercial operators as well. For most of the big brands, the three markets would be New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. However, Michigan has a limit of 15 licenses, none of which are available (assuming Hard Rock Bet takes over as expected after SI Casino shuts down). That means any operator not in Michigan—for instance, Bet365—would need to launch in West Virginia as the only other multi-license market before setting its sights on Wyoming.
Davis suggests Spectrum study boosts bill’s chances
Legal online casinos could substantially boost Wyoming’s coffers, according to HB0162’s accompanying fiscal note.
Wyoming’s Legislative Service Office prepared the note based on Spectrum’s lower-end gross gaming revenue estimates for the market’s first three years. In the report, Spectrum suggested Wyoming could expect $96 million in year one, $139 million in year two, and $151 million in year three.
Per the LSO, these numbers could translate into substantial increases in funds allotted to the county, school, and special revenue funds.
Specifically, they estimate the counties could share an extra $3 million in year one and nearly $9.5 million in year three. Meanwhile, school funding could get a first-year boost of $3.7 million and almost $12 million in year three. Finally, the state’s special revenue fund would see a first-year increase of $740,000 that could balloon to $2.4 million three years out.
As Davis told PlayUSA’s Matt Kredell last November, he thinks Spectrum’s numbers will improve HB0162’s chances of passing.
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.
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