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Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law this week after SB 555 passed both chambers of the legislature in April. The ban will go into effect on Oct. 1 of this year.
The legislation amends the state’s existing gaming laws to stipulate that the term internet gambling now includes “online casinos, by whatever name known, which constitute internet gambling and therefore are prohibited.”
“This includes but is not limited to any platform, website, or application that knowingly transmits or receives gambling information, allows consumers to place a bet or wager using any form of currency, and makes payouts of any form of currency,”the text reads.
The “any form of currency” terminology is key, as it encompasses the dual-currency system used by most sweepstakes operators. Via that approach, users are given a free daily allowance of virtual coins but can buy more of that in-game currency to use. When they buy those coins, they also get an allotment of a second currency that can be used to play games and earn more of that second currency that can be cashed out for real money.
Anyone who knowingly violates the new law will be charged with a felony and could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
It is not entirely clear from the bill exactly which operators will be impacted by the legislation, which many argue extend beyond the most popular sweepstakes companies.
Several operators, including VGW, the company behind Chumba Casino and Luckyland Casino, already decided to pull out of Montana before the bill passed. VGW is a founding member of the new Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), the second coalition of social gaming and sweepstakes operators to have emerged in recent times.
Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law this week after SB 555 passed both chambers of the legislature in April. The ban will go into effect on Oct. 1 of this year.
The legislation amends the state’s existing gaming laws to stipulate that the term internet gambling now includes “online casinos, by whatever name known, which constitute internet gambling and therefore are prohibited.”
“This includes but is not limited to any platform, website, or application that knowingly transmits or receives gambling information, allows consumers to place a bet or wager using any form of currency, and makes payouts of any form of currency,”the text reads.
The “any form of currency” terminology is key, as it encompasses the dual-currency system used by most sweepstakes operators. Via that approach, users are given a free daily allowance of virtual coins but can buy more of that in-game currency to use. When they buy those coins, they also get an allotment of a second currency that can be used to play games and earn more of that second currency that can be cashed out for real money.
Anyone who knowingly violates the new law will be charged with a felony and could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
It is not entirely clear from the bill exactly which operators will be impacted by the legislation, which many argue extend beyond the most popular sweepstakes companies.
Several operators, including VGW, the company behind Chumba Casino and Luckyland Casino, already decided to pull out of Montana before the bill passed. VGW is a founding member of the new Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), the second coalition of social gaming and sweepstakes operators to have emerged in recent times.
