The 2026 NFL season begins on September 9th, 2026 and will run until January 10th with all teams playing 17 regular season games. The playoffs will follow with Super Bowl LXI taking place on February 14th, 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The NFL is the most bet on sport in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Green Bay Packers of Wisconsin and the Minnesota Vikings of Minnesota both open the 2026 NFL season in a competitive NFC North, with the Packers sitting among the fringe Super Bowl contenders at 22-1 and the Vikings a longer shot at 45-1 leading into the season. It’s a fun time to be an NFL fan and bettor in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.
On this page I will touch on the sports betting situation in Minnesota and Wisconsin, look at the popular NFL bets using the Packers vs Vikings Week 1 matchup as an example and explain where you can bet.
Where To Bet
Sports betting is not legal in Minnesota. Wisconsin only allows sports betting in person at tribal casinos, although a 2026 law will let the tribes offer online betting statewide once it launches. Where it is legal, you generally must be 21 or older and physically located in the state to place a bet.
Other options include prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, daily fantasy sports apps where they are available, and offshore sportsbooks, which accept US customers but are not licensed or regulated by any state. Our guide to sports betting in the USA breaks down every option.
NFL Betting in Minnesota and Wisconsin
It is not currently legal to operate a sportsbook in Minnesota. Legislation has been proposed for years, but the most recent attempt stalled in the Senate before the 2026 legislative session ended in May. The long-running disagreement between the state’s tribes and its horse racing tracks over who would control the market remains the main sticking point, though there is still broad support for legalization down the road.
In Wisconsin legal sports betting runs through the state’s federally recognized tribes via tribal compacts. Three tribes (the Oneida Nation, Forest County Potawatomi Community, and St. Croix Chippewa) currently offer in-person sports betting, with roughly six tribal casino locations throughout the state that have sportsbooks. In April 2026, Governor Tony Evers signed a law authorizing statewide online and mobile sports betting through a tribal “hub-and-spoke” model, but those statewide apps have not launched yet while new tribal compacts are negotiated and approved. For now, online sports betting in Wisconsin is limited to the Oneida Nation’s geofenced app on its tribal lands, including its One-Stop locations.
Minnesota and Wisconsin residents are both able to bet on the NFL through offshore betting sites that are licensed and regulated outside of the USA, while accepting American bettors.
NFL Betting Lines
Below I will look at the odds from the Week 1 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings to explain the three most popular NFL bets: spread, money line and total.
Spread
The spread odds are shown in the first column of the above screenshot. The Minnesota Vikings are 1.5 point favorites (-1.5), while the Green Bay Packers are 1.5 point underdogs (+1.5).
- Vikings spread bets win if the Vikings win by 2 or more points.
- Packers spread bets win if the Packers win outright, the game ends in a tie, or the Vikings win by exactly 1 point.
To Win
The second column shows the “to win” odds, which is also known as the money line. This is a bet on which team will win the game outright, with the odds for each team determining the risk vs reward of your bet.
- Bet $125 on the Vikings to win $100 (payout of $225).
- Bet $100 on the Packers to win $105 (payout of $205).
Total
The total is a bet on the number of points scored in the game by both teams combined. The sportsbook set a total of 46 for the Vikings vs Packers game.
- Over bets win if 47 or more points are scored.
- Under bets win if 45 or fewer points are scored.
- All totals bets push if exactly 46 points are scored.
Bet On The NFL Online – 3 Step Guide
The process is similar on every regulated platform. Follow these three steps to get started.
Step 1. Pick Your Betting Option
In Wisconsin, you can bet on NFL games in person at a tribal casino sportsbook until online betting launches. From Minnesota, where there are no licensed sportsbooks, prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket and daily fantasy apps are the main options for NFL games. Residents who travel can also bet while visiting Wisconsin or nearby Iowa.
Step 2. Sign Up and Fund Your Account
Open an account with the platform you picked and complete its identity check, which usually asks for the last four digits of your Social Security number. Then make a deposit, most commonly with a debit card or bank transfer, and check how withdrawals work before you send any money.
Step 3. Place Your NFL Bets
Open the NFL section and look for the NFL odds. Pick a market such as the point spread, money line or total, add it to your bet slip, and review the payout before confirming. Only bet what you can afford to lose, and use the deposit limits most regulated platforms offer. Free, confidential help is available at 1-800-GAMBLER.
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