Montana: status at a glance
| Online casino | Not authorized |
|---|---|
| Sports betting | Retail only |
| Online poker | Not authorized |
| Sweepstakes casinos | Banned by statute SB 555 with a felony penalty, in force 1 Oct 2025 |
A state-run sports product, no licensed online casinos
Montana takes an unusual route for sports betting. There is no open market of competing apps: the Montana Lottery runs the one product, called Sports Bet Montana. The Lottery's own release describes it as launched after legislation passed in 2019 became law, and it describes the Lottery itself as created by a citizen referendum in 1986. The sample release we read, dated May 29, 2024, reports a weekly handle of $975,601 for the week ending May 25 of that year, with baseball, basketball and ice hockey as the largest shares. That one week says nothing about a typical week, but it gives a sense of scale.
Industry trackers classify the state as retail only for sports. Trade press reports that bets are placed through devices located at licensed lottery retailers, not by anyone anywhere in the state with a phone. That detail comes from secondary sources, not from a regulator page we could read.
Online casino games and online poker have no Montana license, and none of the state's gambling products is an online casino.
Who regulates what
Two agencies matter. The Lottery operates the sports product. The Montana Department of Justice houses the Gambling Control Division, which licenses and polices other gambling in the state. Trade press reports that the division enforces SB 555.
The Department of Justice website's robots.txt disallows AI agents, including ClaudeBot, so we did not read it. Anything about the division's own guidance on licensing, permitted games or complaint handling should be read on its site directly.
SB 555 and online casinos
Senate Bill 555 of the 2025 session was signed in May 2025 and took effect on October 1, 2025, according to the data row for this site and industry trackers. Trackers describe it as widening the state's definition of internet gambling so that online casinos fall within it whatever they call themselves, with felony exposure for operators and, in some reports, for affiliates and payment processors. We could not open the enacted bill text on the Legislature's site, so the exact wording and reach are not quoted here, and trade press accounts differ on how far it reaches beyond the large sweepstakes operators.
An online casino of any kind, sweepstakes or real money, is not licensed in Montana and is within the scope trackers attribute to SB 555. How the law treats a given site is a question for Montana courts and prosecutors, not for a tracker.
The state-level coverage is on sweepstakes casinos in Montana, and the national map of bans is on states that ban sweepstakes casinos.
Offshore sites and the licensing question
Offshore casino websites hold licenses, where they hold any, from foreign regulators. Such a license is issued under that jurisdiction's law, and Montana's licensing and criminal rules apply inside Montana. See offshore casinos for how those licenses work.
Sports and poker in the national picture
Montana is one of eight states trackers describe as retail only for sports. The comparison with states running open online markets is on sports betting by state. For poker, no Montana online license is listed; the states that have one are on online poker by state.
Help for problem gambling
The national helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738). Tools and warning signs are on responsible gambling.
Frequently asked questions
Is online gambling legal in Montana?
Not as an online casino. The state has no license for online casino games or online poker. Its sports betting is run by the Montana Lottery.
Are sweepstakes casinos legal in Montana?
Industry trackers list Montana as a ban state because of SB 555, effective October 1, 2025, with felony penalties. The bill text itself was not available to us, so read it on the Legislature's site before relying on a tracker's description.
Who runs sports betting in Montana?
The Montana Lottery runs Sports Bet Montana, launched after a 2019 law. The Lottery's own release describes it as the Lottery's sports wagering product.
Does an offshore license protect a Montana player?
A foreign license is issued under another country's law. It does not make a site licensed in Montana.