Betting (and opposition to it) has a long tradition in Wyoming. Take the lottery once conducted over ice on Fremont Lake. In a rather lengthy Wyoming attorney-general’s opinion in November 1950, the legality of the “Fremont Lake Ice Pool” in Sublette County was considered:
“As we understand this activity, any person desiring to guess the exact time that the ice on Fremont Lake breaks up, may make a purchase of a ticket for the sum of $1 and this ticket permits the holder to make a guess. The money from the sale of the tickets is placed into a pool and the person making the closest guess to the exact time of the breakup of the ice wins the pool. The time is determined by an intricate mechanism placed upon the ice for this purpose.” The AG concluded that the “ice pool” in 1950 constituted an illegal “lottery.”
–“Opinion” submitted by Attorney-General Norman B. Gray to John S. Mackey, Sublette County attorney, Nov. 20, 1950. Published in Official Opinions of the Attorney General 1948-53. pp. 451-56.