Montana Bucks the Trend of Banning College Prop Bets

The viability of college prop betting has captured headlines in the world of U.S. sports wagering most recently, with more states banning the market at the request of NCAA President Charlie Baker. This move will impact all our best sports betting sites, but perhaps less than one would guess.

Montana announced Thursday that it is bucking the trend of ceasing college prop betting opportunities and is keeping the market as part of its wagering menu.

It has been a week since Baker addressed the growing college prop betting market in the U.S. and the problems it creates regarding player harassment and the overall integrity of games in a post on X/Twitter. He called for states and sportsbooks to stop providing opportunities for wagers on individual college players. 

Montana happened to be one of the states contacted by the NCAA last week.

Montana reluctance

Montana is one of the smallest legal sports betting states in the nation, with just a total of $63 million in bets in 2023. It has just one gambling service provider, the Montana Lottery. The Sports Bet Montana app provides users with state-wide mobile sports betting access and wagering kiosks located throughout the state.

Montana Lottery Director Bob Brown wrote of his organization's decision not to follow the trend and ban college sports prop betting, “Speaking specifically to our state, with Montana’s low population and only two large universities, we can speak confidently that any issues occurring nationally have not been an issue in Montana. Regarding the specifics of player prop betting, it is not in our immediate plans to discontinue college player prop markets offered through our sportsbooks. Montana’s local teams already have a limited number of markets, which we are not inclined to limit further.”

But…

As Director Bob Brown said, “Despite our decision at this time, the Montana Lottery entirely recognizes the need in other parts of the country to address these player prop bets and the negative activities that can surround them. We are committed to the active monitoring of player and bettor activity with our sports book as well as what is occurring throughout the country. Again, your raising of the flag on this issue is commended.”

It perhaps doesn’t close the door on a possible re-evaluation of the decision at a later date.

Going against the grain

There has been no shortage lately  of the state’s that have gone with Charlie Baker and are banning college prop bets. Ohio, Maryland, Vermont, and Louisiana in the last couple of weeks have announced high-profile bans on such betting markets.

Thursday’s announcement in Montana breaks a good streak of states banning college prop betting altogether. 

Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Wyoming still have college prop betting markets available.

It remains to be seen if those states will follow Montana and keep college prop betting on their menus or follow the broader trend of eliminating the wagering market altogether.