The Montana Lottery Commission has made it official: sports betting terminals will make a March 9th debut in the state. The machines will allow players to make legal bets at licensed locations, but officials did not state whether mobile betting will be available once the terminals are up and running. Once the terminals are installed, the Montana Lottery will provide training to all staff that will be working with the machines, after which they will be able to begin offering sports betting. In December, the Montana Lottery began accepting applications for new sports wagering licenses, and has so far issued…

From The Bureau of Investigative Journalism – It’s 10am and already there’s a knot of men at the back of the betting shop. The strip-lit space is filled with the chatter of racing commentary, but the clients aren’t paying attention. Instead, they’re intently focused on a bank of tall touchscreen machines near the counter. A man in his sixties in a tatty hat is playing poker games on two machines at once; to either side of him younger men play digital roulette. It’s been half an hour since anybody placed a sports bet, but each of the shop’s four gaming…