DELAWARE, USA – Now punters can now legally place bets on sports — in Delaware, that is.
Two weeks earlier, Delaware became the first American state east of the Mississippi River to legalize sports betting. The state’s Senate approved the legislation via a vote of 17:2 and Governor Jack Markell signed into law last May 21.
The new legislation allowing casino patrons to bet on sports events is hoped to raise over $50 million a year to help the state’s financial woes. Delaware is currently looking at a budgetary deficit of $778 million.
The new law will allow players in the state’s three casinos to bet on sports with Delaware receiving 45% of revenues.
According to Governor Markell:
“I am very pleased that the Senate acted so quickly to pass the sports lottery legislation and I very much appreciate the leadership from both sides of the aisle. Delaware has a unique potential advantage because it is the only state east of the Mississippi that is authorised by Federal Law to have a sports lottery.”
The governor was referring to the 1970s sports betting experiment whereby Delaware was one of four states along with Oregon, Montana and Nevada to be excluded from the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 that bans sports gambling.
Before signing the law, the Delaware governor had also requested a legal court opinion and Delaware’s Supreme Court had given the legislation the green light much to the chargrin of opponents of the bill including the National Football League (NFL) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) who both criticised the bill because it can “hurt the integrity of sports”.
Commenting on Delaware legalizing sports betting, NFL Spokesperson Greg Aiello said:
“We expect that everyone involved in the administration of sports leagues, professional and college, will review today’s action and evaluate its impact as other decisions are made by Delaware officials and the Delaware Supreme Court.”
NCAA Spokesperson Stacey Osburn also stated that sports betting is a problem and not a solution to Delaware’s financial concerns.
The Delaware Governor was however quick to disagree stating to ESPN:
“My real issue with them is they ought not to be coming into Delaware and telling us as Delawareans how to run our state.”
The Big Gamble 