After becoming the first state in the US to offer legalized sports betting after the May ruling by the United States Supreme Court to strike down PASPA, Delaware is doing quite well with their new industry. The state’s three casinos all have sportsbooks, with one already standing out above the rest.
The Delaware Lottery is in charge of the new sports betting industry in the state and recently provided figures from the first twenty days of operation. According to the numbers, the total sports betting handle has already surpassed the $7m mark.
Of the $7m wagered, the states held $1m, with vendor Scientific Games Corp earning $125,000 in vendor fees from the wagering. Delaware Park earned the most, contributing $5.23m of the betting handle with the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino coming in 2nd with $1.18m. The third casino, Harrington Raceway, was able to see wagers of around $590k.
Earning the most for the state, Delaware Park also saw the most wagers placed, at close to 51,000. Dover Downs handled just over 11,600 sports wagers while Harrington took in a little over 7,100.
Delaware has done amazingly well after being the first to launch single-game wagers in the US. On the first day of betting, the state generated over $320,000, with Governor John Carney placing the first wager on June 5th at Dover Downs. The Governor was successful in his wager, betting $10 that the Philadelphia Phillies would beat the Chicago Cubs.
The earnings from sports betting are welcomed by the casinos, which have been struggling for the past few years. Just a few days ago, the venues were provided with a tax rate cut that should give much-needed relief, helping the casinos to begin to see a positive turnaround. Legislators of the state approved a measure a few days ago that will see the slot machine revenue tax rate cut 1% with the table tax rate cut down to 15.5%.
The changes plus sports betting revenues should help the three gaming venues stay afloat, as they compete against neighboring states such as Pennsylvania and Maryland.
