Montana Online Casino

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Montana is one of the most gambling-friendly states in the country. It also has some unique facets, with laws permitting all sorts of gambling in a variety of retail establishments. Meanwhile Montana has been less inviting than other states when it comes to online gambling. However, with Montana having joined the wave of states that have legalized sports betting, that position could potentially evolve.

During the days of the Old West, gambling was outlawed in Montana, although there was no shortage of illegal gambling halls. By the middle decades of the 20th century, various types of gambling were by turns authorized and prohibited in the state. Starting in the 1970s, lawmakers began authorizing certain forms of charitable gaming. The 1980s then saw the introduction of the lottery and legalization of both video poker and video keno machines.

In 1989, a law was passed centralizing gambling regulation at the state level, thereby consolidating all of Montana’s gambling statutes. A couple of years later, the state Legislature authorized all establishments with a liquor license to operate up to 20 video gambling machines. Users can play video slots, poker, keno and the lottery on these machines. They can also wager on horses via off-track betting.

Montana additionally allows these establishments to spread live poker games. About two dozen of them do have small poker rooms, most of which consist of just a couple of tables. However other casino-style table games are not allowed.

Thanks to these unique gambling laws, there are technically hundreds of licensed “casinos” in Montana, even if most are more properly described as bars or taverns that offer gambling to patrons. There are also seven Native American tribes in Montana that operate 10 traditional retail casinos along with dozens of smaller gambling venues.

Best Montana Online Gaming Sites

Montana Online Casino

Chumba Casino — Best Montana Online Casino 

  • $2 sweeps! No deposit necessary!
  • So many slot games to choose from.chumba california
  • Use Skrill or credit card for deposit options.

Play at Chumba Casino now

What are your Montana’s legal online casino options? You won’t find much. Though legal online casino games are banned in Montana, sweepstakes-style casinos are the next best thing. You can even earn real cash.

The leading sweepstakes-style online casino serving Montana players is Chumba Casino. Some of its slots pay just like your other favorite games, or you can pick from dozens of others and try your luck.

 

Montana Online Poker

Global Poker — Best Montana Online Poker 

  • Great tournaments!
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  • Cash games!
  • Credit cards are one available deposit option.

Montana players – check out Global Poker, a fun legal option for those in Big Sky Country

Much like other forms of gambling in Montana, poker is very limited. As far as legal online poker sites, check out Global Poker. It’s a sweepstakes-based site where you can win cash via online poker cash games and tournaments.

Montana Horse Betting

Place Legal Online Racing Bets In Montana 

TVG Sportsbook Online

  • TVG
  • BetAmerica
  • TwinSpires

Now is the time at play at TVG!

Betting on horse racing has enjoyed popularity in Montana because it’s one of the few forms of gambling that’s legal in the state.

Enjoy the sign-up incentives and promotions to wager through favored off-track betting sites.

 

Latest updates

Updated: May 22, 2020

In 2005, Montana lawmakers specifically amended the state’s existing gambling law to prohibit “internet gambling” of all kinds. The prohibition was comprehensive and did not allow for any loopholes, and over the years that followed there was little effort to change that law.

The only exception has been for horse racing, with Montana residents being allowed to place wagers online via the large off-track betting sites.

In May 2019, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock signed HB 725 into law to make sports betting legal. The new law authorizes the Montana Lottery to oversee sports betting and also enables mobile sports betting.

However, once regulations were established and sports betting was launched in March 2020, sports betting was only allowed at authorized retailers with on-site mobile. In other words, sports bettors do not get to enjoy a fully online experience as is the case in other states, because they physically have to visit the licensed outlets in order to bet online.

Montana News

Will Montana Sports Betting Be Ready For March Madness?

March 5, 2020
Montana Lottery officials will begin delivering sports betting terminals on March 9. Within a week, legal betting could arrive in time for March Madness.

The Top 10 US Gambling News Stories of 2019

December 4, 2019
2019 was a roller coaster year for US gambling news. The year began with catastrophe and lurched through absurdity before reaching a successful end.

Related resources

Below you’ll find a list of resources that can help you learn more about the future of online casinos and online gambling in Montana.

Is Online Gambling Legal In Montana? FAQ

Montana Online Casino FAQ

Can I play slots online in Montana?

No, you cannot. Montana law specifically prohibits all forms of online gambling, including online slots.

There are available options, however, including social casino games such as Slotomania on Facebook.

Sweepstakes model sites such as Chumba Casino that use virtual currencies also serve Montana residents.

What are the chances that we get full-fledged Montana online casinos?

Not great. When sports betting finally went live in Montana in 2020, online sports betting was limited to on-site access at authorized retailers and not opened up to everyone statewide. That’s an indicator that there likely is little push to legalize online casinos any time soon.

The wide availability of video slots and other forms of gambling in retail establishments also likely lessens the incentive for lawmakers to consider adding online casinos.

I heard that New Jersey has legal online casinos. Can I play at those from Montana?

No. States that have legalized online casinos use geolocation technology to ensure only those physically located within the states’ borders can play on the sites. That means even setting aside the fact that online gambling is prohibited in Montana, players cannot access online casinos in other states and play on them, anyway.

I see casinos accepting Montana players when I Google the topic. Should I trust them?

No, that is not a good idea. You will find certain “rogue” or “gray market” sites located offshore that advertise that they serve American players. However those who take the chance and play on them do so at risk, as they do not provide the same security and integrity provided by legal and regulated online casinos (such as in New Jersey).

Even setting such risks aside, it is still illegal to play on such sites from Montana.

Montana Online Sports Betting FAQ

I heard the Supreme Court made sports betting legal. Can I bet on sports in Montana?

While you can bet on sports online, you can only do so when physically located at an authorized site that offers sports betting. In other words, you still have to go to the sportsbook to make your bets.

When did Montana legalize sports betting?

Montana legalized sports betting in May 2019. The first sportsbooks opened in Montana in March 2020.

Should I just bet with one of these online sportsbooks I see all of the time?

No, you should not. Some online sportsbooks located “offshore” (outside of the US) will accept wagers from Americans, although doing so violates Montana’s law against online gambling.

These sites also operate outside of US law. That means if you ever run into any issues with your account, you will not have any legal recourse.

Can I play fantasy sports for real money in Montana?

Unfortunately, no. Montana is one of a few states in the US that explicitly prohibits fantasy sports. Thus the big sites like DraftKings and FanDuel do not accept players from Montana.

What gambling is legal in Montana?

Montana is unlike most other states insofar as it is very open to different forms of legal gambling, although imposes some unique restrictions as well, especially when it comes to online gambling.

In Montana, any establishment with a liquor license can offer various kinds of gambling, including video slots, video poker and video keno. It can also allow patrons to use machines to bet on the lottery and on horse racing via off-track betting. Sports betting is now legal as well, meaning authorized sites can take wagers on sports, too.

These establishments are also allowed to spread live poker, and there are around two dozen small poker rooms in bars and taverns around the state.

Meanwhile online gambling is essentially prohibited throughout Montana, with only off-track betting on horse races permitted. Sportsbooks allow bettors to bet online when physically located at their establishments, but they can’t do so elsewhere.

Montana Online Gambling Directory

Montana Online Casinos

You can play at sweepstakes online casinos for real cash prizes, or you can play at social casinos with play money chips.

 

Montana Online Poker Sites

You can play at sweepstakes online poker sites for real cash prizes, or you can play at social poker sites with play money chips.

Montana Online Lottery

Montana has had a state lottery since 1987. However the Montana Lottery does not allow residents to purchase lottery tickets online, since doing so is prohibited by state law. In particular, the law does not allow residents to use a credit card for online gambling, which the Montana Lottery cites as the reason why it cannot offer residents the option to buy tickets online.

There is an official Montana Lottery app that allows users to check winning numbers and drawing times, create play slips, enter drawings and locate retailers, among many other features. But residents still have to visit a retailer to purchase lottery tickets.

There are thousands of retail lottery vendors located throughout Montana, however, making it relatively simple for those who wish to find a place where they can buy lottery tickets.

Montana Fantasy Sports Sites

There are some states that have passed laws allowing daily fantasy sports, and many others that have no specific law saying whether DFS is legal and thus in most cases allow residents to play fantasy sports. Then there are states that directly prohibit daily fantasy sports, and Montana is one of those states.

Montana law explicitly defines fantasy sports as gambling. The law also outlaws online gambling, which means fantasy sports cannot be played online in the state. This law is why DraftKings, FanDuel and other daily fantasy sites do not accept players from Montana. If you try to register for an account on the sites and enter a Montana address, the sites will not let you do so. Nor will the sites even let you play games from Montana on an account you have created somewhere else.

The Montana Lottery does run “fantasy games” that are similar to daily fantasy sports, although these games can only be played on terminals located at licensed retailers.

Montana Online Horse Betting

Wagering on horse racing via off-track betting is essentially the only form of online gambling available throughout Montana. Like many other states, Montana allows its residents to pick from the country’s most popular OTB sites to bet on horse races taking place all over the US.

The best sites where Montana residents can bet on horse racing include:

  • TVG
  • BetAmerica
  • TwinSpires

All three of these sites are popular and liked by those who bet on horse racing, with the operators all being nationally known and having solid reputations. These sites also all feature sign-up promotions and various bonuses and incentives for those who use them, making them even more attractive options for those with an interest in horse racing.

Montana Online Sports Betting

After making sports betting legal in 2019, Montana launched sports betting in 2020. The new law allows for online sports betting, but in practice it doesn’t work quite the same way online sports betting does in other states that have made it legal.

That’s because Montana requires those who place wagers on online sports betting sites to do so while physically located at authorized “brick-and-mortar” sportsbooks — that is, the retailers that are also licensed to accept sports wagers. That means if you aren’t actually visiting such a location, you aren’t able to bet on sports online.

The Montana Lottery oversees sports betting, with Sports Bet Montana being operated by Intralot, the Greece-based international company that supplies a wide range of interactive gambling services to organizations around the world.

The law presents an interesting technical challenge for Montana, requiring very precise geolocation to ensure those who are making sports wagers are doing so at the licensed outlets. To this end, Intralot uses GeoComply’s appropriately named Pinpoint technology.

Land-based casino environment

Given Montana’s unique gambling laws, you could technically say there are hundreds of “casinos” in the state, although truthfully most of these sites that offer casino-style gambling are better known as bars, taverns or restaurants. The common link is owning a liquor license, which then allows the establishment the option of offering various forms of gambling, too.

These “casinos” are allowed to offer up to 20 electronic gaming machines on which players can play slots, poker, keno and other games. The law requires the maximum bet on these games to be $2 and the maximum payout to be $800. Some of these establishments also spread live poker, but there are no other table games like blackjack, roulette, craps and the like.

Also in Montana are more traditional casinos owned and operated by Native American tribes based in the state.

Montana tribal casinos

There are seven Native American tribes based in Montana. The state currently has Class III gaming compacts with five of them, allowing the tribes to offer Class III “Vegas-style” gaming such as slots, roulette, craps and blackjack. The other two tribes each operate casinos with Class II gaming, that is, just bingo games and slot-like games with spinning reels.

Each of the tribes’ Class III compacts is different with regard to minimum and maximum payouts and the number of machines allowed. The minimum gambling age in Montana tribal casinos is 18.

The largest tribal casinos are the Gray Wolf Peak Casino and Glacier Little Peaks Casino, each of which has over 300 video gaming machines. The smallest are the Git-N-Go, Tribal Express Casino, TJ’s Quikstop and B&S Laundry properties, all operated by the Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, more closely resembling the tavern-like “casinos” elsewhere in the state.

Land-based casino options

PropertyLocation
B&S LaundryBrockton
Charging Horse Casino & BingoLame Deer
Fort Belknap CasinoHarlem
Git-N-GoWolf Point
Glacier Little Peaks CasinoBrowning
Glacier Peaks Hotel & CasinoBrowning
Gray Wolf Peak CasinoMissoula
KwaTaqNuk Resort CasinoPolson
Northern Winz Casino IIBox Elder
Northern Winz Hotel and CasinoBox Elder
Silverwolf CasinoWolf Point
TJ's QuikstopPoplar
Tribal Express CasinoPoplar
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