On Monday, August, 24, a federal appeals court ruled that the state of Delaware's bid to legalize single-game sports wagering be blocked, citing a violation of a 1992 federal ban on sports wagering
.
The states of Delaware, Nevada, Oregon and Montana each had legal sports wagering prior to the 1992 federal ban. Delaware offered multi-game parlay wagers on football in 1976.
According to a report by philly.com, Andre Bouchard, a lawyer representing Delaware, had stated that Las Vegas has been offering single-game wagering for years and that professional sports leagues have been unable to prove that the wagering has caused any harm to the products on-field.
The NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and the NCAA sued Delaware in June after a bill okaying single-game sports wagering in the state was passed and signed by governor Jack Markell. Under Delaware's plan, the legal wagering was to come into play starting in September.
According to the report, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Delaware's plans violate the 1992 ban. The article also state that the justices seemed particularly concerned that the state would go forward with sports betting before the court determined if the practice was legal under federal law.
Click here to the read the philly.com article in its entirety.
(With files from philly.com)