Technically, sports betting isn’t banned in the Diamond State, but I figured this was a quick way to work in a George Thorogood reference. Here’s the story from USA Today:
The Delaware state senate moved quickly Tuesday to approve a sports gambling bill, leaving only Gov. Jack Markell's promised signature as the final step before it becomes law.
Instead of sending the bill to a committee for a debate, the senators voted to suspend those rules and allowed it to be debated in the full chamber. A short time later, the bill passed 17-2 with two abstentions.
"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," Markell said in a statement. "In particular, I want to thank Senator (Tony) Deluca as the lead senate sponsor and the leadership in the house of representatives who came together to get us closer to our meeting our budget challenges."
Markell, who has been a major backer of the bill, is expected to sign the bill later this week and the target is to have the betting system in place for the start of the NFL season.
Whenever it's signed, Delaware will become the first state east of the Mississippi to allow sports wagering. It's estimated that sports betting will generate about $50 million annually for Delaware, which Markell said will help with a projected $755 million shortfall in next fiscal year's budget.
Delaware state senate approves sports betting – USATODAY.com.
This is good news for those in the Delaware region who want to bet on slots, but there is a major caveat. As of now, only parlay betting is legal, not straight-up point spread betting, so this won’t be Nevada-style wagering.
Furthermore, even though I don’t want to pour water on anyone’s hopes, I’m a bit skeptical of claims that sports betting will bring in $50 million annually in tax dollars. Every sports book in Nevada combined made about $136 million in 2008, and they’ve had decades in business…and straight-up betting. I don’t think we know enough about demand for the product to accurately estimate what the take will be.
In other news, I’ve been very busy with a few things over at gaming.unlv.edu so haven’t been able to post much. Look for new things soon.