Delaware court OK's sports betting

In a 22-page ruling dated Wednesday, the court said the state constitution permits lotteries that have an element of skill, as long as chance is the predominant factor in winning or losing. The opinion comes in response to Governor Jack Markell's request for the court's views on a law he signed earlier this month authorizing a sports betting lottery.

"I am very pleased with the Supreme Court's decision," said Markell, who's relying on the lottery to help overcome a projected revenue shortfall of more than $600 million for the upcoming fiscal year. "This decision resolves the legal issues that have been presented and provides a solid legal framework for our sports lottery."

The court's ruling could lead to a legal challenge by professional sports leagues, which claim that sports betting would tarnish the image of athletics and lure young people into gambling.

As envisioned by Markell, the sports lottery would allow straight bets on the outcome of athletic events, using a point spread or money line to ensure roughly equal amounts of wagers on each side; over/under betting on the total score of a game; and parlay bets in which players must select two or more elements, such as the winner of two or more games or two or more over/under bets.

The state is seeking proposals from potential vendors to oversee the lottery and working on the rules and regulations. Officials hope to have sports betting in place for the start of this year's NFL regular season in September.

Because of a brief, failed experiment with a sports lottery in the 1970s, Delaware is one of only four states grandfathered under a 1992 federal law that bans sports gambling. The other states are Nevada, Montana, and Oregon.