Sports betting is live in Montana

The Montana Lottery and its vendor, Intralot, began installing betting terminals and training people Wednesday at the licensed locations where bets will be offered.

"We've got 10 crews across the state," said Jennifer McKee, Montana Lottery Communications manager. "They were prepositioned [Tuesday] and they’re delivering terminals, training retailers and moving on to the next place, and they’re going to keep going until all of the licensed locations have terminals."

The lottery will be rolling out more than a hundred kiosks to locations across the state in the coming days, KTVH reports.

It’s game day! Crews are delivering Sports Bet Montana terminals all over Montana beginning today. More than 150 terminals are coming your way, Montana! If we’re not in your town today, we will be soon. #SportsBetMontana #SportsWagering #SportsBetting #Montana pic.twitter.com/avpFSwrs7W

— Sports Bet Montana (@SportsBetMT) March 11, 2020

"You have to be in a licensed location, in one of our licensed retailers, they'll have a terminal," explained MCKee. “You can place the bet on the terminal with cash, or you can place it through the website and very, very soon you'll be able to place a bet through the app.”

The app for Sports Bet Montana is unavailable for download as of Mar. 11. Lottery staff say it is ready to go, it just has to be approved by the Apple App Store and Google Play before it goes live.

The first step people need to do in order to make a sports wager on their phone is create an account, which can be done on the Sports Bet Montana website.

The registration requires a form of personal identification, like a driver's license or the last 4 digits of a social security number, to make sure the person registering the account is who they say they are.

People are only able to add money to their e-wallet attached to the account through a debit card or bank account. Once the account is created and money has been added, the person can then start making bets.

Kiosk bets are limited to $250, while mobile bets are capped at $1,000.

Each location has geo-beacons than ensure bets are only made within the establishment. People can check their account at any time on their phone to look at the odds, but as soon as they step outside the mobile device loses the ability to make a bet.

Dax Cetraro, owner of the Rialto in Helena, said they’re excited to have the machine and system in place.

“I think it has the potential to bring in a different clientele,” Cetraro said. “I think we’ll see a lot of people who have never made a wager before come out and try a bet on these for a favorite team.”

“There will be a little bit of a learning curve, but I think people will catch on quickly,” Cetraro added.

The Lottery has tips to help people understand and learn the types of bets that can be made on their website.

McKee says throughout the entire process, they wanted to make a system that made sense for Montana and the people that call Big Sky County home.

“It's not destination gaming, it's meant to be used by Montanans wherever they are,” said McKee. “You go to your favorite sports bar and you can place a bet. We're rural, and we're very big and we don't have any major cities with any professional teams. So designing a product that would work for everyone, no matter where they were, that was one of the really fun challenges about building Sports Bet Montana.”

The approved professional and collegiate sports are basketball, baseball, ice hockey, football, soccer, tennis, boxing/MMA, golf and motorsports.

Approved bets include: moneyline, over/under, in-game betting, parlay, spread, prop bets and future bets.