Markell’s Gambit for Gambling Ends.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Delaware’s appeal of the Third Circuit’s ruling that limited Governor Markell’s efforts to bring full Vegas style sports gambling to Delaware’s casinos, limiting Delaware gamblers to parlay betting on at least three pro football games rather than single bets.

[I]n an “order list” released Monday by the justices in Washington, D.C., Delaware’s writ of certiorari petition was among dozens from across the country that were denied. The high court made no other comment on the case, bringing closure to a yearlong legal battle.

The decision means Delaware’s three racetrack casinos cannot offer bets — as Gov. Jack Markell had hoped — on sports such as basketball, college football, NASCAR or baseball, nor can they let gamblers place wagers on the outcome of single National Football League games.

Parlay betting returned to Delaware in the 2009-2010 NFL season after a 33-year absence and generated $1.6 million in state revenues — far less than the governor had anticipated when he pushed for sports betting last year.

When Jack Markell was sworn into office last year, he was confronted with staggering revenue shortfalls and a budget deficit crisis as a result of the Great Recession. Part of his answer was to embrace an expansion of gambling as a new revenue stream. While the Federal Courts have limited the full potential of that new revenue stream, it still brought in $1.6 million, triple the initial revenue projections of the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council.