Montana joined the wave of states legalizing sports betting in 2019, with the first sportsbooks launching in 2020.

GREAT FALLS — Sports betting in Montana is moving closer to becoming a reality, as the Montana Lottery has begun accepting licenses from businesses that want to offer Sports Bet Montana, the. Montana Sports Betting Montana had its first wagering go live in March of 2020. Montana went the route set by other similarly small states like New Hampshire and decided on a monopoly for its sports gambling. The Montana Lottery runs and operates the entire sports betting operation. - Montana became the first state to legalize sports betting this year after Gov. Steve Bullock signed a bill on Friday allowing the state lottery to oversee a system of wagering.

When sports betting arrived in Montana, it came to a state already home to a variety of different types of legal gambling. Most notably, Montana allows establishments with liquor licenses to operate gambling machines. These machines feature video slots, poker, keno and the lottery. Such places can also spread live poker, and a couple of dozen do in fact host small poker rooms.

In other words, Montana’s law means the state technically has hundreds of licensed “casinos.” That said, most of these casinos are really bars or taverns with a few machines. Meanwhile, Montana is one of a few states that specifically outlaws daily fantasy sports. However, the Montana Lottery does run its own sports fantasy games that are somewhat similar to DFS.

The state’s new sports betting law is also somewhat distinctive. Montana permits online sports betting only, yet wagers have to be placed at authorized locations. It’s a hybrid, of sorts, between traditional retail sportsbooks and online-only sports betting. It’s also a monopoly, with the state-sponsored online sportsbook Sports Bet Montana the only game in town.

Read on for an overview of sports betting in Montana, including how it came to be, what options sports bettors enjoy in the state, and everything else you need to know when betting on sports in Big Sky Country.

The background of Montana gambling law

As part of the Old West, gambling was not legal in Montana during the late 19th century and into the 20th, although many illegal gambling halls operated all over the state. By the 1930s some forms of gambling were allowed, though in 1950 the state’s citizens overwhelmingly voted against an initiative to make gambling legal.

Certain types of charitable gaming like bingo, raffles and sports pools became legal in the early 1970s. Video keno became legal shortly thereafter. By the 1980s lawmakers were debating both introducing a state lottery and whether to allow video poker machines.

In 1985, lawmakers passed the Video Poker Machine Act. The law allowed each establishment with a liquor license to have five video poker machines and an unlimited number of video keno machines. The next year the state issued nearly 3,000 video poker licenses. That was also the year the Montana Lottery was approved, with the first tickets sold in 1987.

In 1989 another law was passed that centralized all gambling regulation at the state level. Soon after that the limit on video gambling machines was set at 20 per liquor license. These machines allow patrons to play video poker, keno, slots and the lottery. Maximum payouts for the machines, for live poker games, and for the sports pools were all increased over subsequent years.

Sports betting becomes legal in Montana

Such was the context in Montana when the US Supreme Court ruled in May 2018 that the federal prohibition against sports betting was unconstitutional. Almost exactly one year later, Gov. Steve Bullock signed a bill into law legalizing sports betting in the state.

The new law authorized the Montana Lottery to oversee sports betting in the state. In essence, the new legislation revised existing lottery laws to include sports wagering. Lawmakers titled the section of the law covering sports betting the “Montana State Lottery Act of 1985 and Sports Wagering Lottery Amendment of 2019.”

Meanwhile the governor vetoed a second bill that would have allowed the state’s bars and taverns to offer sports betting themselves.

After several months hammering out regulations and pinning down logistics, Montana took its first legal sports wagers in March 2020.

Tribal gambling in Montana

There are seven Native American tribes located in Montana. The state has compacts with all seven of them that allow the tribes to offer different types of gambling.

Montana currently has Class III gambling compacts with five tribes. That means those tribes are able to offer games like slots, roulette, craps, blackjack and poker. With the other two tribes, the state has negotiated Class II compacts that let them offer bingo games and slot-like games with spinning reels.

The largest tribal casinos in the state are the Gray Wolf Peak Casino in Missoula and the Glacier Little Peaks Casino in Browning. Each has more than 300 video gambling machines. There are also a number of smaller establishments run by the tribes that resemble the bar-and-tavern “casinos” located throughout the state.

Montana sports betting: How it works

All sports betting in Montana happens on the Sports Bet Montana app or website. In Montana, users can only place bets at Sports Bet Montana when physically located at licensed sales agents around the state.

Bettors can place wagers either at terminals (aka kiosks) located within the licensed establishments or on mobile devices while on the premises. The sportsbook operator is Intralot, with geolocation provided by GeoComply’sPinPoint technology.

When the state initially rolled this out in spring 2020, bettors could go to nearly 150 licensed locations to place wagers. Most of these are in bars, taverns or gas stations. Eventually, the plan is to have as many as 2,000 live throughout Montana.

Users can still access the Sports Bet Montana website when not physically located at a licensed retailer. That’s helpful, as they can create accounts, deposit and withdraw funds, and even select wagers and create betting slips. But in order to actually to place those bets, they’ll have to go to one of the licensed locations.

In practical terms, sports betting in Montana works a lot like the lottery does in most states that don’t allow online sales (including in Montana). Bettors have to go to certain locations to place their bets, just like those wishing to purchase lottery tickets have to visit retailers to do so.

Bets made at the terminals have a $250 maximum. But when using the app, the maximum for a bet is $1,000.

The tax rate on sports betting revenue is 8.5%. New retailer licenses cost $1,000 annually.

Online sportsbooks in Montana

Since the Montana Lottery has total oversight over sports betting in the state, Sports Bet Montana is the only available option. That means other online sportsbooks like DraftKings, FanDuel or BetMGM cannot launch in the state. That situation could change in the future if lawmakers decide to look again at the possibility of expanding sports betting in the state.

As described above, sports bettors can place wagers only when physically located at a licensed retailer. In other words, while online sports betting is technically legal in Montana, it works much differently from, say, online sports betting in New Jerseyor Pennsylvania. In Montana, online sports betting works a lot more like retail sports betting, given the requirement to be physically located at licensed retailers in order to place bets.

The Sports Bet Montana website provides links to download the sportsbook app for free. There is an app for iOS/Apple devices and another for Android devices. The app provides all of the same functionality, betting markets and banking options as the website.

What sports can I bet on in Montana?

Sports bettors have a number of sports from which to choose when making wagers at Sports Bet Montana. They can place wagers on both professional and collegiate sports. These include:

• Boxing
• Formula One

Some states do not allow wagers on collegiate teams located within the state. That isn’t the case in Montana, however, meaning bettors can bet on contests involving teams from Montana colleges and universities.

What types of sports bets can I make in Montana?

Sports Bet Montana offers a variety of wagering options, including the most popular ones among sports bettors. These include:

• Moneyline — a bet on a team or player to win a contest outright.
• Spreads — a bet made against the point spread (either “giving” or “getting” points).
• Totals — an “over/under” bet on the total number of points scored.
• Parlay — a bet that combines multiple wagers, all of which have to be correct for the bet to be a winner.
• Round robin — a parlay bet involving multiple wagers that can be a winner even if not all of the picks are correct.
• Prop bets — a bet on a specific outcome in a contest not related to the final score, such as how many points a particular player will score.
• Futures — a bet on the outcome of a future event, such as on which team will win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
• Live betting — also called “in game” betting, a bet made in real time while a game is in progress on certain events with adjusted odds.

Other sports betting options in Montana

Montana Lottery Sports Betting Parlay

Sports Bet Montana offers another type of bet it calls a “banker bet.” It is a round robin bet with at least three selections. From those three, the bettor designates one or more of the wagers as “banker” bets. The designation makes that bet part of every single combination of bets, meaning if the banker bet loses, all combinations lose. Adding the banker bet to a regular round robin bet changes the amount of potential winnings for the bet.

Sports Bet Montana offers a couple of other options for bettors. These options concern instances when a bettor chooses a particular bet and has it on the betting slip, but the price changes before the bettor confirms the wager.

• Accept higher odds — If the price changes after a bet has been entered on the slip but before the bet has been confirmed, the bettor automatically accepts the higher odds without receiving a price change request.
• Accept all odds — Just like the above, but if the price changes before the bet is placed, the bettor will accept higher or lower odds without a price change request.

Betting on pro sports teams from Montana

Montana is the fourth-largest state in the country by size. But with a population of only a little over a million, it is actually one of the least populated states. Thus it isn’t too surprising that Montana doesn’t have any professional major league sports franchises.

Montana does have multiple minor league baseball teams that compete in the Pioneer League. As far as pro teams go, some from Montana choose to place their allegiance with teams from Seattle, such as:

• NHL — Seattle Kraken
• MLB — Seattle Mariners
• NFL — Seattle Seahawks
• MLS — Seattle Sounders FC
• WNBA — Seattle Storm

Betting on college teams from Montana

When it comes to NCAA teams from Montana, the Montana Grizzlies in Missoula and the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman are the best known in the state.

Both compete in the Big Sky conference. They have NCAA Division I teams in basketball and FCS teams in football.

Horse races are legal to bet on in Montana

Horse racing is legal in Montana, as is betting on it. The state has one active track, the Great Falls Turf Club.

The state also allows off-track betting. From 2012 until the end of 2019, the state had its own statewide simulcast network called Montana Simulcast Racing. However, the network did not renew its contract with the Montana Board of Horse Racing. Thus 2020 began with the network having gone dark and the board seeking a new partner for simulcasting.

Meanwhile, OTB operators such as TVG, TwinSpires and BetAmerica do continue to serve those in Montana.

What is the minimum age for sports betting in Montana?

The legal gambling age in Montana is 18 years old.

How do I deposit money into an online sports betting account in Montana?

After registering for an account at Sports Bet Montana, users also need to complete a verification process. That process involves submitting a copy of a driver’s license, a state ID card or a passport. The process has to be completed within 30 days of creating the account.

Users can deposit funds and start wagering before completing this verification process, but they cannot withdraw funds until the verification is satisfied.

Sports Bet Montana essentially offers only two methods to deposit funds into an account. The two depositing methods are:

• Debit card
• ACH

The site also requires users to register for one depositing method. They can change their depositing method, but only after making sure there is a zero balance in their account. Changing methods might also require submitting additional documentation to verify the new method.

Withdrawal options

Users can withdraw funds using the same two methods — a debit card or ACH. Sports Bet Montana requires users to use the same method for withdrawing as they used for depositing.

The minimum withdrawal amount is $10. The daily maximum withdrawal allowed is $2,000.

Who regulates Montana sports betting?

The Montana Lottery Commission regulates and oversees all sports betting in the state.

Montana sports betting can begin, and just in time for March Madness. The Montana Lottery Commission approved bet types and sports at last week’s meeting.

Sports wagering terminals will be installed beginning the week of March 9, Montana Lottery communications manager Jennifer McKee said.

There’s no formal date for when those outlets will begin to take bets. After the installation of the kiosks, the training of sales agents will begin.

“We are in the home stretch of our planning and testing,” McKee said. “We are really looking forward to getting Sports Bet Montana in the market, and we’re as excited as Montanans are for betting to begin.”

Sports Bet Montana technically launched in December, and more than 100 sales agents have been licensed since then. Gov. Steve Bullock signed HB 725 into law in May 2019 to make Montana the first state to legalize sports betting in 2019.

Montana sports betting avoided major delays

There was a possibility that sports betting in MT could have been delayed over who could offer wagering.

The lottery decided to tie Montana sports betting licenses to the 1,400 establishments that sell lottery products and have an alcohol license.

The fact that the legislature didn’t require that prompted at least one lawsuit. Private firm Arete Group argued it deserved a sports betting license without an alcohol license and wanted an injunction to stop the process.

But a vote in the joint State Administration and Veterans’ Affairs Committee in October to delay setting the rules ended in a tie. That let the Montana Lottery proceed with the process.

The Arete Group followed through with its threat of litigation with a lawsuit in January.

Intralot almost caused a delay, too

Simply awarding the sports betting contract to Intralot nearly led to a delay as well.

Some wanted a new request for proposal to find the best sports betting supplier that suited the state.

But Montana Lottery attorney Mike Manion explained that sports betting is a new lottery game, meaning it automatically falls to Intralot. The request for a proposal that Intralot won in 2014 included incorporating any new lottery game into its operations.

Montana Lottery Sports Betting

Mobile betting limited to on-site

Montana will not offer a full mobile sports wagering experience. That means MT sports betting will not be available anywhere within the state, but only close to designated locations.

Montana Sports Betting September 1

While players will be able to use mobile devices to place bets, it will be extremely limited. Mobile is only available when within a close range of the sports betting kiosks.

Montana Lottery Sports Betting Rules

That means the most significant benefit of mobile is not getting up from your bar seat and walking to the kiosk to place a bet.