Montana Just Shut the Door on Sweepstakes Casinos

Montana has become the first state to fully slam the brakes on sweepstakes casino operations. On May 12th, Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 555 into law, setting the stage for a full ban that kicks in this October.

And the impact has already started. Some of the biggest names in the sweeps space have pre-emptively geoblocked Montana players, while others are expected to follow suit in the coming months.

Social Casinos Still Have a Way In — For Now

While the law is aimed squarely at sweepstakes-style redemptions, it doesn’t ban social casinos outright. There’s a specific carveout that allows games to remain available — as long as they strip out any form of currency, including Sweeps Coins and redemptions.

“Online casinos that do not allow the use of currency of any kind are not considered a gambling activity and therefore are permitted.”

That opens the door for some operators to pivot to free-play models in Montana, similar to what’s already happened in Ohio. In those states, players can still spin the reels or flip the cards, but they can’t redeem anything — not even virtual currency with implied value.

Senate Bill 555: Closing the Loophole

The bill, introduced by Republican Senator Vince Ricci, doesn’t name sweepstakes casinos directly, but it doesn’t need to. It rewrites the definition of gambling to include any platform using any form of currency. That’s a direct hit to the sweeps model, and it may even catch some social platforms in the crossfire.

Senate Bill 555 says: “The term 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.”

That last line could technically apply even to Gold Coins, the free-play currency used by many social casinos to simulate casino-style gameplay.