Committee approves bill to let Wind River tribes operate online sports wagering statewide

The Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee voted to advance House Bill 299 after sponsors and tribal and commission representatives described the measure and its rulemaking framework.

Representative Posey, sponsor of the bill, said HB299 amends online gaming statutes to allow the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes of the Wind River Reservation to participate as qualified gaming entities for online sports wagering. “This allows the Wind River tribes … to participate in online gaming,” Posey told the committee, and the bill directs the state gaming commission to promulgate rules to implement the chapter.

Representative Lloyd Larson and others described the change as correcting an unintended barrier in the existing statute that requires a qualified operator to be active in at least three U.S. jurisdictions; the tribes as sovereign entities lack that footprint and were effectively excluded. The bill’s text also includes requirements that operators use geolocation systems so wagers are accepted only from patrons physically present in Wyoming, and a carve-out states that wagers conducted by the two tribal gaming entities are not barred by the reservation boundary language.

Nick Lehi Mindy of the Wyoming Gaming Commission told the committee the commission already requires geofencing and clarified, “If you are on sovereign lands, you are blocked. You are not allowed to place a wager if you are on tribal lands. You have to be within the boundaries of the state of Wyoming and away from the restricted areas.” He said the bill would allow the tribes to operate as online sports wagering operators and to include restricted tribal lands in permitted activity if the tribes operate under the statute.

Travis McNevin, representing the Northern Arapaho, testified the tribes have brick-and-mortar sports gaming and were unable to operate online because the statute’s three-jurisdiction requirement effectively boxed them out; HB299 would allow them to apply like other operators. McNevin said legal counsel may recommend striking the bill’s second half if existing commission rules already accomplish the geofencing intent.

Committee members asked how geofencing treats private inholdings inside the reservation boundary and whether tribal-operated online wagering would be subject to the commission’s responsible-gaming rules. The commission representative said the agency maintains a detailed geospatial map (including privately owned inholdings) and that state rules apply to online sports wagering operators; if the tribes operate statewide, they would be subject to the commission’s rules and oversight.

Representative Harshman moved the bill; Representative Campbell seconded. A roll-call vote recorded nine ayes and no no-votes and the committee advanced HB299.

Votes at a glance: House Bill 299 — advanced out of committee (roll-call): 9 aye, 0 no. Representative Posey is the sponsor.

A number of technical and regulatory details remain for the gaming commission to address through rulemaking, including geolocation standards, the relationship between tribal boundaries and private inholdings, and how revenue allocation or responsible-gaming obligations will be administered if tribes operate online statewide.