One NFL Sunday, Laurence Jones said, he discovered a small slice of Las Vegas. In Delaware.
The Burtonsville resident is among countless Marylanders whose fondness for football or gambling — or both — has led them to check out one of the three Delaware casinos that permit betting on NFL games.
"A sports bar on steroids come Sundays during football season" is how Jones describes the sports betting scene at Delaware Park in Wilmington. "The place had a Vegas feel, with many people gathered on three different levels placing bets and sitting to watch games."
Even as its casinos endure declining revenue because of competition from newer ones in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Delaware holds an important card — an NFL betting card. It is the only state east of the Mississippi that allows betting on NFL games. It is a distinction that entices Marylanders to Delaware racetrack casinos, or one of 80 taverns, pizza joints and convenience stores in the state, to wager on America's most popular sport.
Despite the money flowing across the border, Maryland does not seem inclined to legalize sports betting anytime soon. Maryland's first casino opened in 2010 — it now has five — with a sixth, MGM National Harbor, scheduled to open in Prince George's County in 2016.
"We're not going to deal with anything in gambling at least until MGM is open," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller when asked about sports betting. "We just legalized table games. There are only so many disposable dollars."
Gov.-elect Larry Hogan, a Republican, did not say much about gambling during his campaign. Asked for Hogan's position on legalized sports betting, spokesman Adam Dubitsky replied in an email: "It's too premature to comment on potential legislation."
An effort by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Hogan ally, to legalize sports betting in that state is on hold pending a court challenge by the NFL and other sports leagues that contend the plan would violate federal law.
"Everybody is watching that case up in New Jersey," said James Karmel, a casino analyst and history professor at Harford Community College. If the state wins, he said, "I fully expect you'll see such proposals in other states."
The national climate seems to be increasingly favorable for legalized sports betting. In a recent New York Times opinion piece, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Congress should legalize and regulate betting on professional sports, citing estimates that "nearly $400 billion is illegally wagered on sports each year."
Sports betting experts say Congress could make a compelling case for legalization.
"The key is, the government stands to make a lot of money from taxing regulated sports betting," said Richard Borghesi, an associate professor of finance at the University of South Florida.
When the federal government outlawed sports betting in 1992, Delaware was given a partial exemption because it had experimented with such wagering in the 1970s. The waiver allows Delaware to offer only NFL "parlays," which means gamblers must wager on the outcomes of at least three games per betting card and win them all.
Even with the limitation, NFL betting has increased every season since Delaware decided to allow the wagering to resume in 2009. Last year's wagering amounted to $31.5 million, and the state says business is up 20 percent this season.
"Our offering is limited, but a limited monopoly is still a monopoly," said Lottery Director Vernon Kirk.
While there is no precise count, a significant number of Delaware's NFL bettors come from Maryland, Pennsylvania and other states.
"I don't think there is any question that our retailers on the Pennsylvania and Maryland borders get a lot of business," Kirk said.
Before Maryland's significant gambling expansion in recent years, out-of-state gamblers "were maybe 65 percent" of the total in Delaware, Kirk said, "so there's no reason to think it's not very similar to that. considering the amount of money being bet."
Delaware does not permit betting on college football or any other sport other than horse racing. Only Nevada allows wagers on college sports.
But Delaware clearly benefits from the NFL's popularity.
"The dollars themselves are frankly kind of modest if you compare them to slot machines and things like that," Kirk said. "However, it gives our businesses a chance to offer a product that nobody else in the surrounding area can offer."
Meredith Jones, a 30-year-old Baltimore public school teacher, said that during trips to or from the Philadelphia area to visit family, she sometimes stops at Delaware Park to watch games or place a bet for fun.
While she said she rarely gambles, she loves pro football, even subscribing to the premium NFL Sunday Ticket package so she can watch any game.
"I'm just a football fan," she said.
Some Delaware NFL bettors said they wish they could bet on just one game at a time, improving their odds of winning.
"We have the infrastructure in place now that, if we were ever to allow single bets, we really just have to turn a switch," Kirk said. "So if the federal government kind of woke up — which they will someday, I guess — and allowed this, we would be able to keep it right in stride. I think it's pretty much inevitable."
The National Council on Problem Gambling doesn't take a position on whether Congress should revisit sports betting or whether more states should weigh in.
"Any time there is an expansion of gambling, we're concerned there might be an expansion of problem gambling," said Keith Whyte, the council's executive director. "This appeals to a particular segment that tends to be at higher risk for problem gambling: young males who have a strong belief in their own skill."
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