The NCAA, along with the four pro sports leagues, sued the state of Delaware in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (09-cv-00538) this past Friday to prevent Delaware from implementing sports betting. Governor Jack Markell and the Director of the Delaware State Lottery Office, Wayen Lemons, were the named defendants in the suit.
The complaint states that Delaware’s sports betting plan “would irreparably harm professional and amateur sports by fostering suspicion and skepticism that individual plays and final scores of games may have been influenced by factors other than honest athletic competition.”
Stacey Osburn of the NCAA stated, the “NCAA’s strong belief that sports wagering undermines the integrity of the game and negatively impacts NCAA student-athletes’ well-being is the reason why the association joined the NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL in a suit against the state of Delaware.”
Delaware is one of four states grandfathered from the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act on sports betting (the others include Nevada, Montana and Oregon).
Delaware is going to fight this suit and will continue to push for sports betting. A spokesman for Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, Joe Rogalsky, said sports betting “will help pay for our core government services like our teachers and police and will also create new jobs in our state.”
