CASPER, Wyo. — Gaming in Wyoming saw another year of massive financial growth in 2025, bringing billions of dollars in wagers and millions in revenue to local communities, according to the newly released Wyoming Gaming Commission annual report.

The report’s release comes as the Casper City Council considers pumping the brakes on local gaming expansion. Earlier this week, councilmembers set a June 2 public hearing to evaluate a 180-day moratorium on new historic horse racing establishments. The proposed freeze is designed to give city officials time to evaluate zoning, spacing and buffering rules ahead of July 1, when Senate File 45 goes into effect. Previously handled at the county level, the new law returns control to local municipalities by requiring city approval for such venues.

Historic horse racing remains the heavy hitter in Wyoming gaming. Statewide, bettors wagered $2.49 billion on the electronic machines in 2025, a jump from the $2.11 billion wagered in 2024. That activity has direct benefits for local governments, with nearly $25 million distributed to Wyoming cities and counties.

The City of Casper alone netted roughly $2.3 million from its eight off-track betting locations and 516 active terminals. Meanwhile, Natrona County brought in an additional $2.89 million from the games. Statewide, the commission reported 1,314 active historic horse racing terminals spread across 46 approved locations.

Beyond historic horse racing, online sports wagering and skill-based amusement games also posted big numbers last year. Online sports bettors placed more than $234 million in wagers in 2025 across platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM, producing more than $27 million in gross gaming revenue.

At the same time, the state’s 4,115 skill-based amusement games generated $133.7 million in revenue. Those skill games, commonly found in local bars and restaurants, provided an additional $2.75 million to Wyoming municipalities.

During the recent Casper City Council meeting, City Attorney Eric Nelson clarified that the proposed moratorium targets historic horse racing businesses rather than skill-based games.

Traditional racing also contributed to the state’s economy, with a total live horse racing handle of $3.5 million over 54 race days. Simulcast and advanced deposit wagering added roughly $10.1 million in combined wagers.

Wyoming Gaming Commission executive director Nick Larramendy, who briefed the council on the changing regulatory landscape, noted in the annual report that the agency is prioritizing regulatory enforcement and responsible gaming as the industry continues to evolve. As part of the safety initiatives, the commission partnered with idPair in late 2025 to launch a National Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program for Wyoming residents. The agency also reported a 200% increase in live racing compliance over the last two years after enhanced enforcement and rule changes.

The Wyoming Gaming Commission’s full 2025 report is attached below:

Related

What do more than $3 million in political advertisements, a left-wing Texan sex therapist running for Congress and a Wyoming business have in common?

All have ties to a newly formed super PAC making national headlines for appearing to boost long-shot Democratic congressional candidates in midterm primary elections to ease the way for Republican victories in November’s general election. 

In the last two weeks, Lead Left PAC has reported spending more than $3 million on political ads in the battleground states of Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Texas, Federal Election Commission records show. It’s not clear who the political action committee’s donors are, but it’s spent big on advertising with a recently created Wyoming company. 

Some of the PAC’s ads have backed Maureen Galindo, a congressional candidate in Texas whose party leadership has condemned her for making antisemitic comments. Galindo faces Johnny Garcia in the runoff for the Democratic nomination in the state’s 35th Congressional District, which is located in the San Antonio area. The district was redrawn by Texas Republicans to boost their party’s chances of holding onto the seat in this year’s midterms. 

Still, despite redistricting, Democrats believe the seat could remain competitive if their party has a strong year politically, and they’re eager to avoid being saddled with a candidate’s inflammatory rhetoric. 

So, who’s backing Lead Left with heaps of money? FEC records don’t say. The PAC was created recently enough that it has not yet had to disclose any of its donors. In the meantime, Democrats are crying foul, accusing Republicans of bankrolling Lead Left to meddle in their primary elections. The New York Times reported evidence of such potential links earlier this month. 

The PAC’s website — set against Wyoming’s most famous mountain range — bills itself as “against MAGA extremists who will infect our country with Donald Trump’s agenda.”

One paper trail, however, ties the PAC’s spending directly to Piruzi LLC, a newly registered Wyoming business. 

Since May 7, Lead Left has reported 11 independent expenditures with the FEC, totalling more than $3 million in ads. All but two of those reports indicate the PAC paid Piruzi LLC for media production and placements, as well as printing and mailing political advertisements. 

Wyoming Secretary of State records indicate that Piruzi filed to become a limited liability company on April 10. Piruzi’s filings list a Cheyenne address and Tammie Cannon as the LLC’s organizer, along with a phone number and email for Paracorp Incorporated, a nationwide registered agent company. Reached by phone Thursday, two representatives for Paracorp told WyoFile it did not employ a Tammie Cannon but offered to forward a message to the owners of Piruzi. 

Wyoming’s business regulations provide a high degree of privacy as the law does not require a company to disclose its members or managers, effectively allowing the owner to remain anonymous to the public. The laws have helped produce the “cowboy cocktail,” a sophisticated wealth-protection strategy that combines the privacy of LLC ownership with a Wyoming trust. The state has also become a popular jurisdiction for shell companies, which are inactive legal entities with no significant assets. 

Shell companies are sometimes used as vehicles for illicit activity, which is what the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan DC-based nonprofit, argues in a FEC complaint filed May 14 against Lead Left PAC. 

“In addition to strategically gaming federal reporting deadlines to avoid disclosing the sources of its election spending, Lead Left also appears to have violated federal campaign finance laws requiring full transparency about the recipients of that spending,” the complaint states. “Specifically, by funneling all of its spending on political ads through two newly formed companies that are almost certainly not the ultimate recipients of those funds, Lead Left appears to have violated federal reporting requirements.” (Emphasis in the complaint.)

The other LLC named by Lead Left in its filings is OTG Media, which was incorporated in Virginia on April 29, according to the state records. 

In “using these apparent shell companies as opaque clearinghouses to conceal who is actually being paid to provide it with goods and services, Lead Left PAC has unlawfully denied voters crucial information about how it is spending the money,” the complaint states. 

The FEC is unlikely to take swift, material action on the complaint, according to news site NOTUS, because the agency has gone more than a year without the required number of commissioners to formalize investigations or penalize campaign-finance scofflaws. 

Meanwhile, shadowy PACs have become more common in contemporary campaigns, including some in the Mountain West. One political action committee in Montana has fueled speculation after it sent out ads on behalf of underdog Democrats, Montana Free Press reported earlier this month.  

The Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time. 

The email address provided by Lead Left PAC in its FEC filings bounced back an email Thursday when WyoFile reached out for comment. 

Reporting contributed by The Associated Press. Mike Catalani reported from New Jersey.

An outbreak of a contagious canine disease, particularly fatal for young pups, impacted the gray wolf population in Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park in 2025, with only an estimated “31 to 34” of the 87 documented pups born surviving until the end of the year.

Canine distemper, a contagious measles-like virus, was detected in 64% of animals in northwestern Wyoming, where wolves are classified as “trophy game.” While most adults are able to survive the affliction, the disease can be lethal for pups, with a 37% survival rate at the end of the year.

However, the wolf population in Wyoming “remained above minimum recovery criteria, making 2025 the 24th consecutive year Wyoming has exceeded the numerical, distributional, and temporal recovery criteria established for wolves by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” according to the 2025 annual report from Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management.

At least 253 wolves in approximately 37 packs were noted statewide in Wyoming, including the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area, Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Reservation on Dec. 31, 2025, according to the report. The state does not have management authority in the latter two areas.

Sixty wolves were reported to have died in WTGMA with causes of deaths including hunting (28), conflict control (16), other human causes (4), natural causes (8) and unknown causes (4), the report said. While the number was lower than in 2024, “the wolf population in the WTGMA decreased by 19% as a result of reduced pup production and recruitment,” the report said.

Yowlumni Disperser: First gray wolf spotted in Sequoia in over 100 years

What is distemper?

Distemper is a “contagious viral disease that infects species such as domestic dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, and wolves,” according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The virus attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of dogs and other wild canines including foxes and wolves, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

While the disease can impact canines of all ages, puppies are at a higher risk.

Symptoms include discharge from the eyes and nose, fever, coughing, lethargy, vomiting and diarrhea. As the virus attacks the nervous system, canines may also exhibit neurologic signs such as walking in circles, inability to follow a straight path, lack of coordination, muscle twitches, seizures and even partial or complete paralysis.

Distemper can be spread through airborne exposure to the virus from an infected dog or wild animal through sneezing, coughing, or barking, AVMA said, and can also be transmitted through shared food, water bowls and other items.