Delaware Governor signs egaming bill into law
Governor Jack Markell (pictured) signs HB 333 legalising online gambling in Delaware less than 24 hours after the bill narrowly passed a state Senate vote.
Governor Jack Markell has approved of a bill that legalises online gambling and more venues for sports betting in the First State.
Delaware today becomes the second state in the US to allow online gambling after Nevada, though while the latter has only authorised online poker, Delaware has also legalised online slots and table games.
The bill, HB 333, sponsored by Representative John Viola and backed by Governor Jack Markell, passed by 14 votes to six in a Senate session yesterday where it needed more than a 60% majority (13 votes) to pass.
Markell said: “We’re talking about a couple of thousand jobs. The competitive landscape for this industry has changed dramatically.”
The bill will permit the sale of online lottery tickets “ including instant win games “ and allow Delaware residents to play casino-style games including slots. All games will be offered under the control and operation of the state lottery.
Governor Markell’s plans will also expand the locations in which keno games could be played beyond Delaware’s three existing casinos to more than 100 sites, as well as making sports lottery available at venues other than the video lottery agents, such as bars or convenience stores.
Having been passed by the state House on 12 June, the bill faced a legislative deadline of 30 June, and will now take effect on 1 July.
Markell first announced plans for egaming in the First State back in March and claims that the expansion of gambling would provide a welcome boost to the state’s land-based casinos.
He argued that the extra revenue the regulation would attract would eliminate the US$4m in slot machine fees paid by casinos each year and cut their table game fees from $6.75m to $3m, helping them to remain competitive with nearby states.
Two amendments, which if passed would have required a new House vote to be scheduled, were scrapped in yesterday’s Senate hearing. The first included a 2% tax break for parimutuel operators and significantly changed the language of the bill. The second amendment aimed to increase payments made to horse racing operators from online operators to the same 10.75% rate paid by the state’s three ‘racinos’.