The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act classified sports betting as Class III gaming in 1988. PASPA was the federal law that prohibited the tribes in New Mexico from offering sports betting. But as soon as PASPA was overturned, the tribes believed they had a right to begin offering sports betting. They didn’t wait.
On May 14, 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) as unconstitutional, allowing states to offer legal sports betting—including Delaware.
Just less a month later, the state’s three casinos—Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Raceway & Casino—opened sportsbooks to begin taking sports bets.
Congress enacted PASPA in 1992, making it illegal for states and private organizations to “sponsor, operate, advertise, or promote” wagering on competitive games involving professional or amateur athletes.
The PASPA didn’t block all sports wagering in Delaware, however. Section 3704 of the law allowed existing sports betting operations in states to continue to operate.
The Delaware Lottery offered NFL parlay cards starting in 1976. Though the cards were ultimately discontinued after the first year, the law allowing them remained intact, meaning they would be still allowed after PASPA passed.
This is why the Delaware Lottery was allowed to begin offering parlay cards again in the 2000s.
In 2009, Delaware’s government attempted to pass a law that would allow full-scale sports betting in the state. The U.S. Third Court of Appeals ruled that Delaware was only permitted to offer types of sports betting that were offered before PASPA passed (the parlay cards).
New Jersey began fighting to get PASPA overturned or to circumvent starting in 2011. In August 2016, the U.S. Third Court of Appeals ruled that NJ didn’t have the authority to offers sports betting due to the law.
All hope was not lost, though.
In June 2017, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from Chris Christie and the state of New Jersey about the legality of PASPA. Just under a year later, on May 4, 2018, the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in a 6-3 vote.
With PASPA being overturned, states began plans to start offering single-game sports betting, with Delaware being the first state (fitting, right?) to do so.
Delaware now offers Vegas-style sports betting including single-game pets, parlays, teasers, futures, and more. That doesn’t mean, however, that Delaware doesn’t have any rules or limits in place. You can see the full list of rules here, but the following are some highlights to know about: