Lottery shooting for 'Sports Action' launch by Sept. 4
Pub Date: 8/1/2008
By Paul F. Vang
The 2008 professional football season kicks off on Thursday, September 4 when the Washington Redskins face off against the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. The opening weekend continues on Sunday, September 7 when most games are played, and concludes on Monday, September 8, with a TV double-header, with the Minnesota Vikings playing the Green Bay Packers, and the Denver Broncos heading to California to play the Oakland Raiders.
As the football teams go through fall training camps and exhibition games, fantasy sports gaming, as developed by Montana Lottery for the benefit of Montana horse racing, is putting all the pieces together for the beginning of the football season as well.
According to Jo Berg, Communications Manager for Montana Lottery, as of mid-July, 75 Montana gaming establishments have qualified for Montana Sports Action, as the fantasy game will be known. She adds that more applications are on hand and going through the qualifications process and new applications are coming in the mail every day.
In addition, Montana Lottery sales representatives are making calls around Montana and local bars are, according to Berg, expressing interest in participating.
Montana Lottery s software vendor, intralotUSA, is finalizing software development.
We have our equipment on hand and ready to install, Berg said, adding, We ll be conducting training for participants in August, and, if all goes as planned, players can begin choosing their teams for that opening weekend of football on August 28.
Incidentally, Berg notes, For copyright and trademark reasons, Montana Sports Action cannot use the term National Football League or NFL or team names. Only the name of the team s city will appear on our materials.
On the other side of the equation, C. A. (Al) Carruthers, Butte, Chairman of the Montana Board of Horse Racing, reports that draft rules implementing the 2007 legislation providing for fantasy gaming for the benefit of horse racing were issued for public comment on June 11 and, barring surprises, will be formally adopted in August.
Also, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Board of Horse Racing and Montana Lottery, authorizing Montana Lottery to act as the Sports Action host site, has been finalized.
As Montana Sports Action nears reality, Berg clarified some issues about the process through which a local bar becomes a Montana Sports Action site.
First of all, participants will become a full-fledged lottery dealer and will be required to carry other lottery products, such as scratch games.
The Montana Sports Action terminal will make just a small footprint at the host facility, she said, and the only advance cost for participants is a $75 annual fee. She also notes that only currently licensed gaming establishments can participate in Montana Sports Action and, participants will be considered a Lottery Dealer with a Sports Action endorsement.
While there are still unknowns in the process, Berg anticipates that most participants will not have to hire additional staff to handle Lottery action. Most lottery dealers handle it all as a sideline, except on those occasions when jackpots get big, when additional traffic presumably makes additional staffing pay off.
Under the rules established by the Montana Board of Horse Racing, 74 percent of Montana Sports Action revenues will be paid to winning players. Of the remaining 26 percent, 15.3846 will go to the facility licensee, 23.0769 percent will be paid to the network licensee (Montana Lottery) and 61.385 percent will go to the Board.
How will Montana Sports Action revenues earmarked for the Board of Horse Racing actually help racing? Al Carruthers says that funds will be disbursed to local tracks in proportion to the number of days on which races are actually run. The local tracks can use the money to fatten winning purses or for the betterment of horse racing.
The betterment of horse racing could mean improvements to local tracks or to encourage investment in infrastructure to bring the ponies back to communities where horse racing has fallen by the wayside. That lengthy list currently includes Helena, Kalispell, Missoula, Hamilton and Shelby.
Carruthers says, I m wide open for more. Missoula, for example, is really interested in coming back. They have just about enough money. Carruthers adds, I wouldn t be surprised if some other communities approached us about building a new track.
While there may be some surprises as Montana Sports Action becomes a reality, the pieces, as stated earlier, are falling into place.
We ve been getting comments from potential players, Montana Lottery s Berg notes. Lots of people are already playing fantasy games more than I ever expected and many of them hope to make some money on a game they already play.
And for the horse racing game? Al Carruthers sums it up: If we can get our purses back up we ll get some of them (race venues, horses, trainers, jockeys, etc.) back.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, August, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.