Montana Charitable Bingo, Keno, and Raffle Rules

Montana's Gambling Control Division, part of the Department of Justice, administers charitable bingo, keno, and raffles under Title 23, chapter 5, part 4 of the Montana Code Annotated. A 501(c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(8), or (c)(19) nonprofit that held its IRS exemption on or before January 15, 1989 pays no state gambling permit fee and owes no gambling tax on its bingo or keno activity (MCA 23-5-406(1)(a)(i)). A nonprofit exempted after that date still owes half the standard permit fee unless it limits its gambling activity to 60 days a calendar year, in which case the fee drops by half regardless (23-5-406(1)(a)(ii)). Either way, the organization must keep its live bingo and keno on its own premises or at events run by another charitable group or a government unit, follow the same operating rules as commercial operators, and apply to the department for a permit before dealing a single card.

Prize and price ceilings apply across the board: an individual bingo card can't cost more than $1, a single bingo game can't pay more than $800, and total payouts in one session are capped at $3,000 (MCA 23-5-412(5)). A licensed operator can run up to five special bingo sessions a year with an $800 per-game and $5,000 per-session ceiling and a $10 permit fee, but exempt charitable organizations under 23-5-406 don't qualify for that special-session permit (23-5-412(7)). When an exempt charity runs bingo away from its home premises, the per-session cap disappears but cards drop to a 50-cent maximum and prizes to $100 (23-5-412(9)).

Raffles need no separate license. A nonprofit must own every prize before selling a single ticket, individual-ticket prizes top out at $5,000, and proceeds may fund only charitable purposes or prizes -- never the raffle's own administrative costs (MCA 23-5-413).

The Gambling Control Division investigates every violation of this part under MCA 23-5-413. A knowing or purposeful violation of Title 23, chapter 5 is a misdemeanor under 23-5-161: up to a $500 fine for a first offense, up to $1,000 and six months in jail for a second offense within five years, up to $10,000 and a year in jail for a third, and a fourth conviction adds permanent revocation of every gambling license the violator holds.