Delaware’s three racinos saw about $1 million in revenue come in during the first 20 days of full sports betting in the state.
A report from the Delaware Lottery Commission said that between June 5—when sports betting began in the state—and June 24 the three sportsbooks in the state took in $7 million in total bets, holding about 14 percent. In all, of 69,698 wagers were placed.
Delaware Park sold $5.2 million in sports tickets. Dover Downs reported $1.1 million in bets and Harrington Raceway took in $590,000. According to reports, Delaware Park saw $653,277 in net proceeds. Dover Downs netted $143,952 and Harrington earned $77,987.
According to an analysis by Legal Sports Report, the breakdown of the $1,000,247 in revenue saw about $125,000 go to the state’s sports betting suppliers—Scientific Games, William Hill and StadiumTech. After paying that share—or 12.5 percent of total revenue off the top—the rest of the revenue is divided up in the state with the state’s racinos keeping 40 percent.
Another 10 percent of remaining revenue, or about $85,353 this month, is allocated to horse racing purses. The remaining 50 percent goes to the state for about $437,609 during the reporting period.
Delaware was the first state to offer full sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban under the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Delaware already had a partial exemption to the ban as it offered a type of parlay football betting through its lottery prior to the act being passed by Congress in 1992.
For comparison, over the 2017-18 NFL season, total revenue from the state’s parlay betting came to about $4.8 million. The state’s revenue share totaled $2.4 million.
Lottery officials said the betting was higher than expected, with about 75 percent of action on baseball and the rest split between futures bets and the World Cup. Lottery director Vernon Kirk had expressed concerns that sports betting would not be as lucrative to state as the parlay betting since single bets are easier to win. However, he acknowledged that sports betting is off to a strong start, especially considering that the NFL season hasn’t even begun.
