Sports betting coming to western Wisconsin, raising stakes for Minnesota

Final approval of sports betting at Turtle Lake Casino, about 90 minutes from downtown Minneapolis and closer to some Twin Cities suburbs, is imminent.

January 25, 2022 at 3:26PM
FILE - Betting odds for NFL football's Super Bowl 55 are displayed on monitors at the Circa resort and casino sports book, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
(Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minnesotans have been making the trek south to place legal bets since a sports book opened in 2019 at the Diamond Jo Casino just across the Iowa border.

Soon, they will be headed east as well.

Wisconsin's St. Croix Chippewa Tribe and Governor Tony Evers amended their gambling compact in late December, paving the way for sports betting at the Turtle Lake Casino — located about 75 miles from downtown Minneapolis and even closer to some Twin Cities suburbs to the north and east.

I talked about the news and what it might mean for Minnesota on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast.

I checked in with Minnesota state Rep. Pat Garofalo (Farmington), who said he remains "cautiously optimistic" that Minnesota will follow suit and add some form of legal sports wagering, though he added that there is "nothing concrete" in the works beyond discussions.

The state legislature is adjourned until next week.

Seeing the impact on neighboring states does have an impact, though as I wrote a few months ago the prospect of legalizing sports betting in Minnesota is a complicated one with many key stakeholders involved.

It will be interesting to see what sort of traffic Turtle Lake gets from the Twin Cities as a result of the new agreement.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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