Card dealer licensing sees some changes
Pub Date: 7/1/2007
By Gene Huntington, Administrator
The Gambling Control Division
In March, the 2007 Montana Legislature passed House Bill 190, a piece of legislation aimed at reducing the abuse of the temporary card game dealer license process. As a result, beginning July 1, the process for getting a temporary license will change.
Temporary licenses will still be available, and the application process still begins at the local driver services offices around the state. Applicants must go to the driver services offices to get application materials and have a photo taken.
Prior to the passage of HB 190, the applicant could tear off a temporary license to use while the application was being processed. That option is no longer available.
Too often, applicants were taking the temporary license and never submitting the application materials and licensing fees. In turn, GCD licensing and investigation staff would spend a great deal of time trying to contact the applicants and to get the appropriate materials and fees.
Even in cases where applicants never completed the application, the Gambling Control Division had to go through the entire administrative process. And in at least two cases, people with criminal backgrounds were discovered using the temporary permits.
Under the new system, applicants must take the completed application to a GCD office and there must be an immediate prospect of employment.
With changes in the way that the Motor Vehicle Division forwards the photos and other changes in the gambling licensing system, the Gambling Control Division believes that the time needed to process dealer license applications will be reduced.
However, if someone needs a license to go to work immediately, there will be a process for the applicant to go to a local GCD office and obtain a temporary license. This process will require the applicant to get all of the required materials, including fingerprints, collected before going to the GCD office.
We realize that some applicants live miles away from the GCD offices in Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell or Glasgow. To address the needs of people who may require a license on short notice in other areas, GCD has undertaken a pilot program with the Workforce Service Centers formerly known as Job Service Offices of the Department of Labor and Industry.
The pilot program will be conducted in Butte, Glendive and Miles City. In these communities, applicants with an immediate prospect of employment will be able to take application materials to the local Workforce Service Center and get a temporary license.
Depending on the results of the pilot program, the service may be extended to other communities.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, July, 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.