Getting some legal bets in on sports events such as the Super Bowl and World Series now requires a trip to Las Vegas.

But thanks to the spread of slot-machine gambling in the mid-Atlantic states, in a year or so you might be able to zip over to Delaware to make legal sports wagers.

With the approval of slots last month in Maryland, Delaware is looking for ways to protect its gambling income from the direct threat of Maryland slots.

Because three of Maryland's sites with the bulk of the 15,000 approved slots are along the Interstate 95 corridor, Delaware will be more adversely impacted by Maryland slots than Pennsylvania or New Jersey.

So Ed Sutor, president of the Delaware Video Lottery Advisory Council and president and CEO of Dover Downs, a harness race and slots facility in Dover, Del., is pushing the plan to allow sports betting.

In Delaware, slots fall under the control of the state lottery, and, in fact, the machines technically are called video lottery terminals, although they perform exactly as slot machines do everywhere else.

All it will take for Delaware to offer sports betting is passage of a bill by the Legislature and the signature of the governor. Sutor said Governor-elect Jack Markell has indicated he's willing to consider sports betting and perhaps table games, too.

Sports betting proponents in New Jersey are pushing the idea there as well to help the Garden State's struggling gambling industry, hurt by the economic slowdown, competition from Pennsylvania and an on-again, off-again total ban on casino smoking.

However, Delaware is much better-positioned to pass such a measure because it is one of four states exempted in a 1992 federal law that made it illegal to bet on sports events in states that hadn't already legalized the concept. The other exempted states are Nevada, Montana and Oregon. Other states would have to seek a federal exemption to legalize sports betting.

Sutor said Delaware once had a form of betting on the NFL through the state lottery that was considered a game of chance.

So if a measure is passed and signed by the governor, it would prohibit betting on head-to-head matchups. But there are ways to handle that.

If you wanted to bet on the Eagles against the Giants on a Sunday, the bet would have to be two parts. You could take the Eagles and the point spread and then a side bet such as the over/under. Not exactly like Las Vegas, but it would provide legal action.

Other bets would be much more like those available in Vegas.

Before the season started, you could bet straight up on the Steelers to win the Super Bowl or the Phillies to repeat as World Series champions. Those bets would be allowed because you were picking one from dozens of teams competing.

Should Delaware go ahead with sports betting, you can expect the ante to be raised elsewhere.

This article is a reprint from The Patriot-News. To view the original story, click here.