Yesterday marked the rebirth of sports betting in Delaware. The NFL had their day in court and smoked the smallest state in the Union. The State and three state-approved racinos went ahead anyway. The existing three racinos dumped a reported total of 11 million into the betting facilities and September 10, 2009 may become a day sports bettors remember . . . with Parlay Cards, Teaser Cards, Super Teaser Cards and ‘off the board’ betting.

That’s right, the games are varied in nature. There are the Parlay Cards and Teaser Cards. Parlay Cards will be limited to $2-$100 bets, but the state will also take ‘off the board’ parlays with a $5 minimum and a $3000 max wager. ‘Off the board’ bets use updated lines from the electronic tote board, as opposed to the pre-printed parlay cards, but offer slightly lower payouts. The different types of cards resemble the ones that I saw all throughout my youth, but they all have ½-point spreads – there will be no pushes in Delaware. The Parlay Cards are just like any other and the two Teaser Cards are for either a point differential of 5-7 points or 9-11 points (Super Teaser). Both teaser cards are quite interesting because the points teased are not the same on each game or each card (the Teaser Card uses 12 points total and the Super Teaser , 20 points total). For example: in the Teaser Card for last night’s game (Steelers -6.5, again, there can be no even spreads), the Steelers were teased down to -1.5 (5 points) and the Titans were moved to +13.5 (7 points). The Dolphins/Falcons game is teased at an even 6 points on the Teaser Card but on the Super Teaser Card the Dolphins are given 9 points to leave them at +13.5 while the Falcons were granted 11 point to move their number to +6.5.

This is not the case on every game, but for certain games (especially those revolving around 3 or 7) it looks like the house is hedging a bit. After all, does anyone think that the Fins are going to lose by more than two touchdowns or that the Titans were going to get pasted last night? Obviously not Brandywine Gaming, who runs the backend lines and systmes forDelaware.

An example where the mighty number 3 comes into play reveals a bit more how Delaware is playing the game this time around. The line on the Parlay Card for the upcoming Rams/Seahawks snooze-fest is Seahawks -8.5. A six point teaser would bring the Seahawks margin of victory under the magic 3. The state apparently will have none of that type of advantage to the player and thus moved Seattle to -3.5 and the Redskins to +13.5 ( 7 points). In a bold showing, the Super Teaser will only allow the Chargers to be teased on Monday night down to -1.5, a mere 8 points. But, that does open the door a bit for Raiders bettors who are now getting 21.5 points on the Super Teaser card.

The bottom line is that each game must be looked at to play the teaser cards. It’s not as simple as putting in a 6 point teaser on the Internet and having every game calculated to 6 points right before your eyes. It also may give the Internet player an advantage seeing how the house is shading the line on a particular wager. One thing is for sure, the favorites are almost always going to be a bit pricier in Delaware.

We were particularly interested in the odds that the State was going to offer to gamblers. We figured to insure that the state would fill the coffers, players were looking at 5-1 or worse 3 team parlays. But the state can say they offer the highest parlay odds in the world – at least on three team parlays. The printed payout odds on the back of the card are 6.5 -1 for a 3-team parlay, 11-1 for a four teamer and 20-1 for five correct. The State offers all the way up to 10 team parlays, and these pay 800-1. Shocked, I knew immediately that the three team parlay were at very competitive odds. In fact, as-high-as-you-can-find odds. Offshore, only two outfits offer 6.5-1 on 3 teamers, BetOnline and Payoffs Plus. Interestingly, both used to offer 7-1 but those days are gone. Delaware even has very competitive odds the whole way up the board. Still, most offshore outfits will beat the odds offered by Delaware for 4, 5, 6 and even up to nine by a few bucks (12-1 on a 4 team parlay offshore vs, 11-1 in DE.). But if you play 10-team parlays, the Delaware Racinos would be heaven. No book on the Internet, comes close to 800-1 on a 10 teamer. I may just play one every week for two bucks…..at 800-1, as that is damn close to true odds. The highest we could find on this wager offshore is 642-1.

I once spoke with a book owner offshore after a weekend where the books went a bit sideways – some made a few bucks and some lost a few bucks. This particular owner sounded quite depressed on the phone. I said, “You sound down, from what I understand it was a pretty even weekend for everyone. Did you get creamed?” He replied in a montone voice – “10 team parlay” . . . But, Delaware does have a bit of a buffer. On the rules of the card it states that there is a maximum aggregate payout of $100,000 plus two times that handle for that week. By only offering parlays, I doubt that there will ever have to be some type of pari-mutuel payoff to players.

The teaser payouts in Delaware are also giving offshore books a run for the money. At 13 to 5 or +260 for a three-team 6-point teaser, those odds are really high. Offshore books generally pay anywhere from 3-2 to +180 for this same wager. And, they offer up to 12 team teasers in Delaware! And they pay out at 65-1! Again, as with parlays, the 4-8 team teaser can be gotten for a better price offshore. But, players who buy computer generated tickets looking to hit the big one, because that what this is all about, being a ‘lottery’, will have a shot at a pretty big payday on a similar type of longshot low money wager. And, I think the odds of hitting a 12-team teaser are better than hitting the daily number.

On Sunday, Delaware is giving it a go and so will we. I will be in front of the tote board in less than 48 hours. I will also be stepping outside the racino/sportsbook to provide live updates via our Facebook site. Feel free to check it out and get involved in the first legal sports betting east of the desert since the 70’s.…..perhaps a Facebooker will have a 10 teamer up their sleeve….