Wyoming Gambling Law Showdown Averted After Deal Struck Over Illegal Operation

CASPER — A showdown over whether Wyoming’s gambling laws are unconstitutional is no longer imminent after a local man charged with illegal gambling opted Wednesday to plead guilty rather than keep challenging the state’s laws. 

Scott Schroefel, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of illegal gambling Wednesday in Natrona County District Court. The guilty plea is in exchange for a deferral the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office offered him in a plea agreement. 

If District Court Judge Catherine Wilking accepts the plea agreement, Schroefel will then face a term of probation. And if he completes the term of probation successfully, the felony charge will fall away, and he won’t be convicted of the felony. 

His sentencing will be set for a later date. 

The Wyoming Gaming Commission and later, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, took an interest in Schroefel in June of 2023, when a woman called the commission to complain that the Mocha Moose coffee shop in Casper refused to pay her son roughly $7,000 in gambling winnings.

The investigation that followed, which included digital and in-person searches, a confidential informant, interviews and bank records, led the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office to claim that between Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2024, Schroefel helped others gamble so he could derive a profit.

Professional gambling is a felony in Wyoming, punishable by up to three years in prison and $3,000 in fines.

Before the DA’s office offered him the plea agreement, Schroefel and his attorney Ryan Semerad were waging a challenge to Wyoming’s gambling law, calling it unconstitutionally vague.

The law is so vague and riddled with nonsensical exceptions that normal people wouldn’t know how to comply with it, Semerad argued in a February motion.

The DA’s office responded to that motion by saying that Schroefel knew exactly what he was doing wrong and how not to break the law. 

Wilking had not settled the argument by the time Schroefel abandoned it by accepting the plea agreement. 

While standing at the podium before Wilking on Wednesday, he confessed to running gambling operations through his coffee business, the Mocha Moose.

“And it became known in the community that people could get coffee, but also obtain a code?” asked Wilking, during a question-and-answer designed to elicit his confession. 

Schroefel answered that it had. 

“They would buy a raffle ticket; we’d accept cash – they could play an online game during the raffle session,” he answered. 

And if the player won, he could collect a cash prize at the shop, Schroefel acknowledged under Wilking’s questioning. 

Wilking warned Schroefel that she can reject his plea agreement if she sees fit – but it has a provision that would let him withdraw his guilty plea and keep fighting the charge if she does. 

The judge will make that decision at Schroefel’s sentencing.

Semerad declined to comment to Cowboy State Daily after the change-of-plea hearing. 

No More Showdown

Schroefel’s challenge of the law noted that numerous types of risk-involved games are allowed in Wyoming: slot-machine-like “skill games,” online sports wagering,” parimutuel wagering, bingo, gambling operations among personal acquaintances, and gaming operations under contract laws.

The challenge pondered how any ordinary person could navigate these vague exceptions. It emphasized a notice by the Wyoming Attorney General’s office that conceded the acquaintance-gambling exception could benefit more clarity.

Meanwhile, the legislature is eyeing more – not less – gaming regulation. Lawmakers at Tuesday’s meeting of the legislative Management Council discussed a plan to give local governments more control over state gaming, among other tweaks to the $2 billion per year industry. 

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.