Montana Posts Year-on-Year Handle and Revenue Growth in November
Residents of Montana don't have access to our best sports betting sites, despite that sports betting is legal in the state.
The Montana Lottery—the sole avenue to place sports bets in the state—has published its monthly sports betting figures, showing the state handled over $7.4 million in November 2024. While that total slightly declined from the $7.6 million handled in October, it marked a more than 6% increase year-on-year from the $6.9 million generated last October.
Meanwhile, sports betting revenues jumped up over 122% year-on-year, climbing to over $1.5 million in November. In October, Montana experienced state-wide gross gaming revenue (GGR) losses, losing more than $26,000. The month-on-month rise was a remarkable 6016.3% increase.
Montana Puts October Revenue Slump Behind with Month-on-Month Revenue Growth
Like many US states, Montana experienced a revenue slump in October despite posting a high sports betting handle thanks to bettor-friendly results. Football, baseball, and MMA all experienced GGR losses in October, with the football losses higher than revenues from basketball, ice hockey, and tennis combined.
Montana sports betting operators will be pleased to see numbers returning to the mean, with all the top sports bringing positive GGR in November. While football collected the most GGR, hitting over $940,000, MMA experienced the most significant month-on-month change, jumping by over 2700%.
| Sport | October 2024 GGR | November 2024 GGR | Change |
| Football | -$192,438 | $942,071 | +589.5% |
| Basketball | $105,501 | $382,450 | +262.5% |
| Ice Hockey | $57,868 | $268,919 | +364.7% |
| Soccer | $54,719 | $221,579 | +304.9% |
| Boxing | N/A | $39,551 | N/A |
| Specials | -$63,669 | $106,020 | +266.5% |
| MMA | -$2,690 | $70,811 | +2732.4% |
| Tennis | $13,096 | $26,269 | +100.6% |
| Table Tennis | N/A | $9,188 | N/A |
| Other | $8,393 | $26,767 | +218.9% |
| Total | -$26,939 | $5,834,172 | +6016.3% |
It’s worth noting that the Montana Lottery reports the highest-performing sports each month, which is why there are no specific figures for boxing in October 2024. Boxing GGR is accounted for in the “Others” category in October.
Football Remains the Most Important Betting Market in Montana
With only four Thursdays for Thursday Night Football compared to five in October, it’s no surprise the football betting handle dropped between October and November. The NBA returned at the end of October, so an entire month of NBA betting resulted in a significant month-on-month increase in betting handle of over 169%.
| Sport | October 2024 Handle | November 2024 Handle | Change |
| Football | $4,928,468 | $4,880,951 | -1.0% |
| Basketball | $560,358 | $1,508,639 | +169.2% |
| Ice Hockey | $298,385 | $375,447 | +25.8% |
| Soccer | $380,325 | $277,340 | -27.1% |
| Boxing | N/A | $121,296 | N/A |
| Specials | $107,584 | $112,654 | +4.7% |
| MMA | $120,614 | $91,229 | -24.4% |
| Tennis | $92,793 | $34,221 | -63.1% |
| Table Tennis | N/A | $9,961 | N/A |
| Other | $25,811 | $16,158 | -37.4% |
| Total | $7,590,965 | $7,427,893 | -2.1% |
Boxing rose into one of the highest sports betting handle sports as the highly anticipated boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson occurred in October. While US states prohibited betting on the fight, Montana allowed bettors to place wagers, resulting in a sports betting handle above $120,000.
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