Montana is 1 of 5 states Who Will Prohibit Online Sports Gaming
Recently the New New York Attorney General’s Office issued a cease and desist order that directs Fantasy Sports companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, to stop accepting bets from the New York residents, and also categorizing these activities as illegal gambling under New York law.
Montana has already prohibited Internet gambling and is one of of five states that have prohibited this form of Online gaming. The others States are Arizona, Louisiana, Iowa and Washington, it it thought that New York would be be joining that list soon.
Nevada on the other hand has ruled the Fantasy Sports companies DraftKings and FanDual were gambling operators, and instead of banning them, they ensure that the operators abide by the law and obtain a state issued gambling operator’s license for them to continue in business.
The Montana prohibition on Internet Fantasy Sports betting was not related to the rise of these two companies. It came about as part of the evolution to the state’s gaming laws which extends back more than a century. In 1889 gambling was illegal but largely ignored, then in 1949 the State Legislature allocated $40,000 to the Attorney General’s Office to enforce these gambling laws. The next year the voters defeated an initiative for the legalisation of gambling in Montana by a vote of 4-1. In 1972 the states constitution was rewritten. At that time voters voted to allow legalized gambling. And all gambling was illegal except those that were authorized when voted into the constitution. Over the next two years legislature allowed a larger number of gambling activities namely video poker and lotteries.
