Court Ruling Today Continues Beat Down of Delaware Sports Betting
The panel of judges who decided last week that Delaware could not offer single game sports betting made things even more limited for the state today with the release of its written opinion. The three judges from the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals said the state is only allowed to offer parlays with a minimum of three teams, and only on NFL games.
The ruling comes as the narrowest possible reading of the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act by the judges. The law gives Delaware grandfathered powers to operate sports betting, but the court ruled the phrase "to the extent" means the exception only permits exactly the games previously operated, without a horizontal expansion to include more sports or fewer games per bet.
"Under federal law, Delaware may institute multi-game (parlay) betting on at least three NFL games," said the written opinion of Judge Thomas Hardiman.
Although the three judges were unanimous, Delaware has the option to appeal to the full twelve-judge court if it wishes, or even to the US Supreme Court. But legal experts say the narrow application of the decision to this particular case by the judges leaves little room for grounds to appeal, and Delaware is less able to afford a lengthy legal battle than the NFL.
The judges did allow that the lottery venues do not have to be identical to those employed in previous sports betting, and said NFL teams that were nor in existence during Delaware's 1976 excursion in sports gambling could also be included. But substantive changes were rejected as breaking the purpose of the law.
