Montana is an interesting state when it comes to sports gambling. It is one of four states that is exempted from PASPA, or the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. PASPA was passed in 1992 and bans 46 states from having legal and regulated sports gambling. Montana joins Oregon, Delaware and Nevada as the only states exempted from it. While the other three states were exempted due to some previous form of state-sponsored sports betting, Montana didn’t have anything like that at the time.
This creates an interesting situation. Montana was exempted through a sports pool law that allowed places with alcohol licenses to set up betting square contests. Firstly, Montana state law defines a sports pool as an activity “in which a person wagers money for each chance to win money or other items of value based on the outcome of a sports event or series of sports events wherein the competitors in the sports event or series of sports events are natural persons or animals.” (23-5-501-1) Bettors use what are called sports tabs, which are “folded or banded tickets with a face covered to conceal a combination of two numbers, with each number ranging from zero through nine.” (23-5-501-2) The actual sports tab game involves a card where 100 sports tabs or attached, each of which hosting a different combination of outcomes, where bettors can place money through purchasing select tabs.
The Montana Gambling Control Division deems sports pools, fantasy sports leagues (like FanDuel and DraftKings) and sports tab games as legal. They also clarify them as “non-banking games in which players bet against and settle with each other rather than betting against and settling with the house.” This is where the true differentiating factor between Montana and the other PASPA-exempt states lies. Montana considers these as players betting against each other, on an individual level, as opposed to betting against the house. Nevada sportsbooks have a house where bettors bet against it. While the reward with these types of sportsbooks may be higher, the same can be said about the risk. Montana sports tabs can only be sold for a maximum of $25 with payouts topping out at $2,500. These figures are miniscule when compared to the figures of the Las Vegas sportsbooks. The Montana sports gambling options are safer for bettors, as they don’t stand to lose as much.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Montana’s PASPA exemption is the untapped potential for a sports gambling industry. As it stands now, Montana sports gambling is restricted to the sports pools described above and offshore sportsbooks that are legally licensed and regulated, but in theory, the state could host sports betting similar to Nevada. The key words here are, “in theory,” as any such move would likely be met with fierce resistance. While their stance on sports gambling is positively shifting, the major sports leagues may still try and block such a move. There are a few other states with bills that are pitching a regulated sports gambling market, but they are dependent on PASPA being repealed. Even before the leagues would have a say, Montana would have to first circulate a bill through legislation and then voters would have to vote in the law. In any case, Montana’s most likely move would be to wait out the sports gambling issue and see how it plays out with states like New Jersey and Mississippi, who are aggressively pushing their sports gambling initiatives, before drafting any legislation of their own. The increasing number of states with pro-sports gambling bills and the demand for sports gambling could also pressure the federal government to reexamine their stance on PASPA and sports gambling as a whole. If this happens, Montana residents may very well see Nevada-style sportsbooks in their state.