Delaware has become the first American state east of the Mississippi River to legalise sportsbetting in the hope of raising over $50 million a year to help with a projected $778 million budgetary shortfall.
The small state’s Senate passed legislation last week by a vote of 17 to two with two abstentions that legalised sportsbetting before Governor Jack Markell subsequently signed it into law on Thursday. The legislation had earlier made it through the Delaware House of Representatives by a vote of thirty to four after weeks of tough negotiations.
“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,” said Governor Markell.
“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.”
This distinctive situation is down to the fact that, due to a brief experiment with sportsbetting in the 1970s, Delaware is one of four states along with Oregon, Montana and Nevada that are excluded from 1992’s Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that bans sports gambling.
The new legislation permits players at Delaware’s three casinos to place wagers on sporting matches with the state getting 45 percent of any revenues.
Both the National Football League (NFL) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) have criticised the new measure over claims that it will hurt the integrity of sports. Governor Markell revealed last week that the NFL has even threatened to take his state to court over the matter.
‘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,’ said Greg Aiello, spokesperson for the NFL.
Stacey Osburn, spokesperson for the NCAA called sports wagering ‘a problem, not a solution’ to the state’s to budget problems but Governor Markell disagreed.
“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 Governor told ESPN.
Abstract from www.igamingbusiness.com
