Single-game sports betting was scheduled to start Sept. 1 in Delaware, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the state’s plan violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 and cannot proceed.
The panel was expected to rule on a temporary order to stop Delaware from launching sports betting with single-game wagers against a pointspread, but instead announced that the issue was a simple matter of law and that the issue could be resolved at this stage.
It was a total and complete victory for the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and the NCAA.
"We're very disappointed with the ruling," Michael Barlow, legal counsel to governor Jack Markell, told the Wilmington News-Journal.
The state has 14 days to ask for hearing before the entire appeals court to reconsider and possibly reverse Monday's ruling. The state also could appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The NFL supports single game wagering on contests, as long as those contests are between dogs fighting to the death (or otherwise being killed just for the fun of it).
Posted by: Coach | August 25, 2009 at 08:19 AM
Also, people today greatly exaggerate the authority that Federal courts have, when they issue Opinions about the Law.
Those Opinions are not Laws themselves, nor are they Executive Orders: the Court has no power to make Law or to enforce it... people forget this, and therefore greatly exaggerate the authority of the Courts.
If Delaware thinks they are in compliance with the Federal "Professional And Amateur Sports Protection Act", by allowing single game wagers, then should just go ahead and do so, as they planned...
It becomes then a matter for the Department of Justice, and they then might stop by way of an Order from that Law enforcement body, the DOJ.
But the Courts have no such Executive authority, they have only their Opinions of the Law... and we know what opinions are like, they are like the three buttholes in Philadelphia, who wish to uphold Nevada's monopoly on sports wagering.
Posted by: Coach | August 25, 2009 at 08:31 AM