Delaware Betting Saga Continues

Recently, the state of Delaware’s hopes to launch a major sports betting campaign were crushed by a judge’s decision that their plans would violate a federal law. This decision was a heavy blow to the state seeing that millions of dollars had already been invested into this sports betting campaign. Delaware state officials immediately filed for appeal.

Most of the Delaware population had doubts about this betting campaign in the first place. State officials knew it would be a slim chance that all types of betting would be ruled legal in Delaware by the court, but they were willing to give it a shot.

The appeal was heard in a federal courtroom in Delaware. With the courtroom packed full of state officials, the judge denied the appeal after a long day of discussion and debate. This is where we thought the story ended. The state would go back and try to recover from the loss of money spent on the campaign that never was able to be launched.

Now the same court has determined that the federal government will allow “parlay” bets on NFL games in Delaware. Relieved that all their efforts hadn’t gone to complete waste, the state took the federal government up on the offer.

The gambling scene in Delaware now looks like this: Gaming operators can only take “parlay” type bets and these bets can only be placed on NFL preseason, regular season, play off and super bowl games. A parlay bet, also known as an accumulator bet, is one that combines two more events and only requires one wager. Here is the catch- the bettor must win all the games linked together under one parlay bet to win money. No money will be won even if just one team loses.

This type of betting will be more profitable for the state. The bettors have been handed the short and of the stick. The only reasons bettors like this kind of bet, or even participate in it, is because the winnings pay big money if you are lucky enough to get them.

Delaware was hoping to generate 17 million dollars in revenue for the financially troubled state. This estimation is based on the past betting activity from the only three casinos in the state.
The NFL and NCAA are not fighting this exception the court granted the state of Delaware. There primary concern when Delaware was ready to launch this betting campaign was the criminal activity that might begin to take place in their leagues, like point shaving and the presence of “favors”. Now that the only type of betting that can be carried is “parlay” betting- the NFL and NCAA representatives know that someone can’t bet on a single game.

Time will tell as to whether or not “parlay” bets will pull Delaware out of its financial crisis. Many state officials are just relieved that the court has allowed these bets rather than prohibiting all betting in the state. The state will also attract many bettors from the surrounding states, like New Jersey.

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