Delaware Sports Betting Bill Gets Renewed Life In House

Governor Jack Markell vowed that the battle was not over when his sports betting Bill was shot down by lawmakers this week. Today, a reworked version of the Bill passed the House and now has new life.

Sports betting is illegal everywhere East of the Mississippi, but Governor Markell's plan would change that. He wants to bring sports gambling in the form of parlay bets to Delaware. The state's three racetrack casinos were against the original Bill.

"My administration worked with the leadership in the House and Senate to get this done," said Markell of the amended Bill, in a statement, "We never stopped fighting to do what was right for the taxpayers of Delaware."

The compromise that the Governor had to make was that eventually the racetrack casinos would be allowed to offer table games. Currently, they are only authorized to offer slot machines. The racetracks will also receive a larger portion of the revenue generated from the sports betting.

The odds would be heavily in favor of the state under the sports betting plan. A parlay bet is one in which a gambler has to pick at least two different teams. Both teams must win for the gambler to win the bet.

Now that the House has passed the Bill, by a 30-4 vote, the Senate will get their chance to weigh in. If they approve the Bill and Markell signs it, it would become law. It is estimated that $52 million would be generated in 2010 from sports betting.

May 8, 2009
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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