An amendment to Delaware’s sports betting bill sponsored by Representatives Frank Cooke and William Bush in the form of House Bill 365 would effectively change the number of mobile sportsbooks in the state allowing for multiple operators.
Market Expansion
Delaware is one of the few states to offer both iGaming and online sports betting, but the latter didn’t launch until December 2023 with only Rush Street Gaming’s BetRivers brand as the sole mobile sports betting provider in the state after replacing 888 Holdings.
While BetRivers is the only digital sports betting choice in the Delaware market, that could be changing sooner than later if House Bill 365 passes. Passage of this bill would allow the state’s three video lottery operators to be afforded two skins (online sportsbooks) each. Therefore, a total of six online sportsbooks would be allowed to operate in the Diamond State.
“It’s important that Delaware remains competitive and responsive to the preferences of its residents,” Representative Bush said. “By providing Delawareans with a larger mobile sports wagering market, similar to those thriving in neighboring states, we can level the playing field and bring in a new source of revenue for our state.”
Bill’s Details
The amendment calls for an 18% tax on the sportsbooks’ adjusted gross revenue with 96.5% of those tax proceeds directed to the State Lottery Fund while the other 3.5% or $400,000, whichever is greater, will go towards the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health for problem gambling programs.
Senator Spiros Mantzavinos, chair of the Senate Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology Committee, said, “Regardless of whether we’re talking about consumer products or sportsbooks, the consumer benefits from healthy competition in the marketplace. By creating a regulatory structure that allows our casinos to partner with multiple sportsbooks, we can better ensure legal gaming sites are providing consumers with the best value.”
Market Study
Although it should be obvious that competition maximizes production and usually forges the best product to the masses, Representative Cooke saw his House Resolution 6 passed in January 2023 which authorized a legislative research study to determine how Delaware would be best served by a mobile sports betting industry.
The conclusion was far from startling as the report, issued in December 2023 and right before the mobile sports betting market launched, revealed the state would reap more taxes from multiple sportsbooks rather than just one.
However, there is some concern that the major players like DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, et al, are reluctant to join the Delaware market as 888 Holdings and Rush Street Gaming were the only ones to respond to the RFP in January 2023.
That prompted Representative Cooke to opine, “It should be a concern of yours also saying ‘how come they didn’t bid?’ That’s like having a racetrack and none of the horses want to come in, but you have a racetrack. Something has to be wrong, or right, or something.”
The licenses would run $500,000 for a five-year term if the bill is passed but it remains to be seen just how many national mobile sportsbooks would be interested in entering a market that has already launched and is one of the least populated states (45th) in the union.
