Now that the Montana legislature has passed a sports betting bill and Governor Steve Bullock has signed it, it falls to the Montana Lottery to work out the details for a program that it is expected to introduce within a year.
That means that the public might be able to place bets on the 2020 Super Bowl.
Jennifer McKee, a spokesman for the Montana Lottery, said last week,
“We’re not reinventing the wheel here. We’re just following the process. We’re in the design phase right now of figuring out how sports wagering will look in Montana, what makes the most sense for us, and we’re moving through the steps as quickly as we can.”
Sports betting licenses will have no relation to other lottery licenses. There will be some kind of terminal or kiosk involved. No bets will be taken outside of a retail licensed location.
That means no Apps that work from home or fantasy sports operators like DraftKings.
Intralot, which is the existing vendor for the Lottery, will operate sports book, which will offer traditional types of wagers.
This does not sit well with University of Montana director of athletics Kent Haslam, who worries that people will be betting on university contests—especially since the state doesn’t have any professional sports.
McKee says it’s too early to worry about such things yet. “We’re so early in the process that we don’t really have the details of how and what kinds of sports will necessarily be even concluded,” he told MontanaSports.com. “So, I guess we don’t have our concerns written in stone yet, either.”
The law bans Montana college athletes, coaches and department employees from participating, but Haslam says the temptations are there. “It changes a student-athlete’s life when gambling is legal, and I understand you make it legal and it’s more above board, I understand it,” said the athletic director. “I really hope that there will be some form of resources offered to us.”
Haslam said there is no point to athletics without integrity. The risk is that young people will be exposed to temptation at a vulnerable age. “Just one more thing that entices them, or one more thing we’ve got to pay attention to, it certainly will keep me up at night, along with all the other things,” he said.
