Answer to Delaware’s sports betting appeal delayed

    The nation’s highest court extends deadline for a response to Delaware’s attempt to overturn its appeals court loss.

    Delaware will have to wait a little longer to find out if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear its appeal of last year’s appeals court decision that limited the First State’s sports betting plan to NFL parlay bets.

    Last week, the Supreme Court extended the time allotted to respond to Delaware’s petition to April second.  The previous deadline was March third.

    Delaware filed its Supreme Court petition in late January, a decision Governor Jack Markell (D) deemed “prudent”.

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    Last August, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Delaware’s plan to offer single game bets on all sports, siding with the NFL, NCAA, and other pro leagues who challenged Delaware.  The Court ruled Delaware’s sports betting plan violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which prohibits sports betting.  Delaware is one of four states with an exemption to PASPA, since it previously offered NFL parlay bets, but a three judge Third Circuit panel ruled narrowly that Delaware’s exemption is limited to the same NFL parlay bets it offered back in 1976.

    Delaware appealed that decision to the full Third Circuit and was turned down.

    Despite the limited betting options, the state wound up making $1.6 million from sports betting in its first year of operation.

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