Montana Sports Betting Sites – Montana Sportsbooks & Mobile Apps

Montana is a big state by size, but not a big state by population, so it is fair to wonder how many operators would have rushed to set up shop in the state anyway. Bullock presumably believed that competition would be limited anyway, so he opted to go the lottery route, which pumps money back into education initiatives and the state’s general fund.Montana signed sports betting legislation into law in the spring of 2019 and Bullock took his time making a decision. Naturally, with a smaller population, the tax revenues were projected to be much lower than in other states, which could be another reason why he supported keeping everything at home through the lottery.

A similar setup is in Oregon and also Washington D.C. and many industry observers and analysts have been critical of the odds pricing in those states as well.

Ultimately, not enough recreational bettors are going to worry about the difference between -110 and -118 and Sports Bet Montana is doing well in the state.

With the lottery and Intralot entrenched as the parties responsible for sports betting in Montana, there won’t be much to update and none of the sportsbooks that we have reviewed at ATS will be entering the Montana market, so good luck to bettors in the state. We hope you can overcome the bad lines.

Sports Bet Montana was the answer in Big Sky Country when PASPA was repealed on May 14, 2018. Two bills were put forth in the Montana legislature and Governor Steve Bullock opted for the House Bill that gave control of sports betting to the state lottery. The other bill would have given oversight to the Montana Department of Justice Gambling Control Division, which would have opened the state up for other operators.

As a result, Intralot, the state’s lottery provider, also became the provider for sports betting odds. That is the only option for residents of Montana. The glass half-full for Sports Bet Montana is that the app and website are both user-friendly and the fact that oversight fell on the lottery meant that betting kiosks could be placed in bars, restaurants, and at other approved locations.

The glass half-empty approach is more like the glass being completely empty. With a monopoly and no competition, Sports Bet Montana has odds that are unfair to the player with high vig and high hold percentages on the futures markets.

It is better than nothing and a lot of recreational bettors won’t understand the gravity of the poor pricing, so Sports Bet Montana is doing fine, but things could have worked out so much better for the residents of Montana if the Senate bill had passed. Read Full Review

Sports betting in Montana wound up being pretty unimaginative. It would seem that’s how a name like Sports Bet Montana came to be.

Governor Steve Bullock was left with a decision. The state Senate bill would give oversight of sports betting to the Department of Justice Gaming Control Division, which would have opened up the state of Montana to multiple operators, such as DraftKings, FanDuel, and others that are operating in many of the states that have legalized sports betting.

Instead, Bullock chose the House of Representatives bill that gave the oversight powers to the state lottery and their data provider Intralot. The end result has been an unfair set of odds for Montana residents. The industry standard for vigorish is -110. In Montana, the industry standard appears to be -118.

Sports Bet Montana was officially approved by the Montana Lottery Commission in November 2019 with online capabilities, an app, and kiosks in approved retailers across the state. The ease of access for users may be viewed as a reasonable trade-off for the unfair odds and that could very well be how Sports Bet Montana is perceived. Being able to bet with a kiosk in a bar or a restaurant as opposed to having to use a smartphone or a computer is certainly easy enough.

Montana is a big state by size, but not a big state by population, so it is fair to wonder how many operators would have rushed to set up shop in the state anyway. Bullock presumably believed that competition would be limited anyway, so he opted to go the lottery route, which pumps money back into education initiatives and the state’s general fund.

Montana signed sports betting legislation into law in the spring of 2019 and Bullock took his time making a decision. Naturally, with a smaller population, the tax revenues were projected to be much lower than in other states, which could be another reason why he supported keeping everything at home through the lottery.

A similar setup is in Oregon and also Washington D.C. and many industry observers and analysts have been critical of the odds pricing in those states as well.

Ultimately, not enough recreational bettors are going to worry about the difference between -110 and -118 and Sports Bet Montana is doing well in the state.

With the lottery and Intralot entrenched as the parties responsible for sports betting in Montana, there won’t be much to update and none of the sportsbooks that we have reviewed at ATS will be entering the Montana market, so good luck to bettors in the state. We hope you can overcome the bad lines.