The Montana Lottery, the creators of Montana’s monopolized sports betting product ‘Sports Bet Montana’ has reported handle for the month of June 2023 at $3.4 million.
This was a 17% increase year-over-year from $2.9 million in June 2022, but a drop of 24.4% month-over-month from May’s $4.46 million. Hold also dropped to single digits for the first time in a year, thus seeing a substantial fall in revenue in the state too.
Montana arguably has the most venues across the entire United States of America where a bettor can take part in sports betting. Hundreds of licenses have been distributed by the Montana Lottery that can offer the Sports Bet Montana product.
Similarly, estimates suggest there are also over 100 locations across the state that offer some form of ‘casino gambling’, depending on the definition. Under Montana law, it is illegal to offer any sort of house-banked card or table games such as Roulette, Blackjack and Craps (arguably the most famous).
Instead, casino in Montana is limited to video bingo, video keno, video poker and other machines with slot-like features that the regulator groups under the vague term “video line machines”.
Montana also differs from other states in that horse racing is still extremely popular in the state, with two live racecourses (Great Falls Turf Club and Miles City Bucking Horse Sale). In addition, ADW wagering (advanced deposit wagering) is legal and available through several different companies in the state.
AGA statistics suggest sports betting kiosks continue to grow, up now over 500 compared to 450 at a previous count. The state faces limited competition from bordering states, although it’s unique in that despite mobile wagering ‘being available’, 90 percent of bets are placed through physical kiosks rather than mobile devices.
This is due to the ‘unique’ set-up of the lottery rules which allow all products to be playable on mobile, except Sports Montana which must be done at an authorized location.
The rule reads:
“You can only register, log in, upload documents, browse the site, deposit, prepare wagers on your betslip, withdraw funds, set your personal limits, change your personal details when you are at home. You cannot place bets through your personal computer or mobile phone while at home. You can only place wagers in an authorized Sports Bet Montana location.”