Montana has considered a new bill with the intention of legalizing sport betting

Legislature in Montana has considered the possibility of implementing a new bill with the intention of legalizing sport betting in the land-based, mobile-based and online-based setting. The bill has become known as SB 330. This is the Montana Sports Betting Act, and they have scheduled an examining of it with the Business, Labour and Economic Affairs of the Senate on March 19, 2019. 

Gaining Popularity

This type of sports betting has gained an incredible level of popularity. In fact, during the 2019 Super Bowl, over $158 million was wagered on the outcome of the game. That breaks previous records. What reasons could explain the rising popularity of sports betting? One of the key reasons for the rising popularity of sports betting comes from a Supreme Court ruling that brought sports betting into a more mainstream setting. 

What Can You Expect?

With this new bill, we see a set of new provisions intended to offer an interactive wagering platform. Some people will actively try to silence this bill like Sheldon Adelson who believes that the more states that legalize this form of activity, the more that Las Vegas will suffer for it. However, we haven't seen this as the case. In all likelihood, the billionaire casino magnate wants to keep sports betting illegal across the nation because of how it will benefit his own pocketbook to do so. 

Getting Started

The licenses for this setup will cost an estimated $1,000, and they will need to pay a $1,000 fee annually to keep their sports betting license intact. Montana legislation plans for the licenses to expire on June 30 each year. Along with paying for a license, sportsbook operators will also have to pay an 8.5 percent tax rate on the betting receipts. 

Montana joins a crew of many other states that have considered forming their own sports betting legislation. For example, Washington, South Dakota and North Dakota have all weighed the possibility of opening up an area for sports betting. This comes at the heels of other favorable new laws, which have been passed with the intention of making sports betting more common. For a long time, sports betting has been more of a niche industry, and they had a harder time making it. However, we could soon see this as becoming more favorable as more states pass laws that will make sports betting legal. In fact, the government will have the opportunity to earn revenue off it.