ESPN the Magazine uncovered the story of Governor Jack Markell and his upcoming sportsbetting proposal.
Jack Markell is the current Governor of the state of Delaware. He previously served as treasurer of Delaware for three consecutive terms. Markell is graduate of Brown University with a degree in Economics and went onto received an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Markell is a well established businessman and was the Vice President of Corporate Development at Nextel. He is actually said to be the one credited for coming up with the name “Nextel”.
Next week Markell will introduce a proposal which calls for a statewide sports lottery that only allows parlay bets.
Markell says Delaware already allows horse racing and slots. Markell thinks that the state, which is currently $700M in the hole, can benefit from this proposal.
What a country we live in. A Governor ‘gambling’ on the long shot that a state approved sportsbook will help close his state’s budget gap.
Beyond that, the ESPN story doesn’t delve into it much, but what is the effect on sports leagues. I don’t think the major sports leagues in this country would be very happy to see more widespread betting. This opens up a much greater chance of another Donaghy-type-incident occurring. The NBA just had to shake that one off and no league needs to have their product seem as a sham. This is especially true when fans are much more apt to pounce on any questionable actions in these uncertain economic times.
The leagues would not be seeing any direct revenue gains from such an enactment either.
Behind the Bets [ESPN the Mag]
$700m? Apparently the screen door factory isn’t the tourist hotspot it once was, huh?
Delaware will have to go full bore and mimic the offshore books if they want to become the Las Vegas of the East.
They’ll need wink and a nod internet and telephone wagering(all out of staters will need is a Delaware P.O. box).If they’re willing to do that,Delaware will be as flush as the UAE when oil was at $150.
your outlook is nonsense.we need this on the east coast.The only thing is,if these parlay odds are not up to speed.It won’t draw action.