Montana Nonprofit Raffles and Online Raffles

Direct answer: moving the raffle online changes the permission

Montana does not treat an online raffle as a paper raffle with a website attached. It is a separate activity with a separate entry requirement. Before an organization conducts its first online raffle, it registers with the Montana Department of Justice Gambling Control Division using Form 46, the Nonprofit Online Raffle Registration Form. The current form describes that registration as one time.

The two directions of that rule both matter. An organization that has been running offline raffles for years does not already hold the online permission, and an organization that has registered on Form 46 has not thereby been licensed for gambling in general. Ordinary raffle rules continue to govern the offline raffle on their own terms, covering eligibility, ticket sales, the drawing, prizes, records and the use of proceeds.

No registration fee is stated on the current Form 46 reviewed for this guide. That is what the form says rather than a conclusion that the activity is free, and the Division's current forms index is the place to confirm it before filing.

What goes with the registration

Form 46 is filed with nonprofit status documentation. The form itself identifies what it wants, such as the named Montana Secretary of State or IRS documentation, and the point of the attachment is to let the Gambling Control Division verify that the organization is eligible to hold the registration at all.

Proving eligibility once is not the same as complying afterwards. The documentation gets the registration; each individual raffle still has to follow its own operational rules.

Payment, and who may buy a ticket

Current Gambling Control Division guidance permits credit card payment for nonprofit online raffle ticket purchases under the current rule posture. Processor charges may apply and no state payment fee is stated. Read that permission narrowly: it belongs to registered online raffles, and it is not authority for credit card wagering on other forms of gambling.

Purchaser location is the condition most easily missed when a raffle is promoted on social media. Current Form 46 guidance allows an out of state online sale only when the purchaser's own jurisdiction permits that transaction. Montana's registration authorizes the organization in Montana. It does not make a sale lawful everywhere the internet reaches, and internet location or geolocation handling in the platform may require additional confirmation before tickets go on sale.

Records and proceeds

The required online raffle records are maintained for 12 months. Proceeds go to the permitted charitable purposes and prizes rather than to impermissible administrative uses, which is the rule most likely to be tested after the fact rather than before it.

Twelve months is the Gambling Control Division's retention period, not a ceiling on the organization's own obligations. Other nonprofit accounting rules and donor restrictions can require the same records to be kept longer, so the safe practice is to treat 12 months as the floor.

What this registration does not cover

Three boundaries are worth stating explicitly, because each one has its own authority elsewhere in the Montana guide.

A casino night is a different permission. It runs on Gambling Control Division Form 11 with a current $25 permit fee and its own lead time, and Form 46 does nothing for it. Ordinary bingo and special bingo sessions are separate paths again.

Alcohol is not a gaming question at all. Selling beer or table wine at an event runs through a Department of Revenue special permit. Whether alcohol may be a raffle or auction prize, or accepted as a donation for that purpose, is VERIFICATION IN PROGRESS in the Montana guide: current special permit and gambling materials do not establish one universal nonprofit route, so confirm it with Alcoholic Beverage Control and, for the raffle side, with Gambling Control before accepting or transferring alcohol.

A decision checklist

Work through these in order before tickets go on sale, and keep the answers with the raffle records.

One. Will any ticket be sold online? If no, this system does not apply and the ordinary offline raffle rules govern. If yes, continue.

Two. Has the organization filed Form 46 with the Gambling Control Division, with the nonprofit status documentation the form identifies, and did that happen before the first online raffle rather than during it?

Three. Does the ticket platform handle payment within what current guidance permits, and does it record what the raffle rules require?

Four. Can the platform tell where a purchaser is, and is there a rule stopping a sale into a jurisdiction that does not permit it? Montana registration answers for Montana only.

Five. Are the records set to be kept for at least 12 months, and is the intended use of proceeds within the permitted charitable purposes and prizes?

Six. Does any prize involve alcohol? If so, stop and confirm that route separately before proceeding. The complete Montana guide, including casino nights, bingo and the alcohol special permit, is at /states/montana/.