In our office complex apparently somebody complained yesterday morning. Why? We were doing the happy dance and yelling like teenagers who just scored their first six-pack from a take-out package store. Why? Legal single-game betting is now a reality in Delaware.

To confirm that sportsbetting will exist East of the Mississippi, on I-95, just outside of Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles play their home NFL games, there is a giant billboard proclaiming, “SportsBetting in Delaware”! That’s all it says. And all it needs to say.

According to several media sources, the entire sports betting operation hinged on single-game betting. As the OSGA has reported before, the foray into sports gambling in Delaware in the 70s went down in flames with parlay cards. This week’s court decision to allow this type of betting was a welcome relief. I was very worried about 8-5 two-teamers or getting 4-1 on a three game parlay.

Though the sports leagues were defeated, I do not feel too bad for the ‘integrity of the game will be tarnished” NFL and other sports leagues. They will still get their day in court – December 7, almost playoff time. By then, no doubt, the NFL’s image will look like the bottom of an old copper frying pan. But, maybe the image is more affected by the actions of some players and the league itself. Michael Vick appears to be ready to play and maybe some team will give PacMan another shot when their secondary gets depleted by injuries. Most likely these players and others who forget that it should be a privilege to get paid millions and be adored by fans are allowed to compete because they simply sell tickets and merchandise.

Merchandise, like lottery tickets. As of right now there are more than a dozen pro football teams that will have lottery tickets with extra special prizes like tickets to a game or team merchandise. And the NFL isn’t the only one who thinks that gambling is OK, as long as it is not actually on their games. In 2007, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros had Texas scratch-off tickets as part of a Major League Baseball deal with state lotteries. Last year, the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets had scratch-off games. Several news outlets have quoted the judge in the NFL suit, Chief District Judge Gregory M. Sleet , “the professional sports leagues’ position was ‘ironic’ given that a number of sports teams now have sponsorship deals with casinos and several owners or part owners of sports teams also own gambling establishments.”

What it comes down to it the NFL or any of the major sports leagues do not want anyone but the NFL, MLB or the NBA to make a nickel off of their ‘product’. Or maybe it’s the owners don’t want anybody but themselves to make money off of their teams. After all, it’s all about the money. Do you think the NFL would be putting up such a fight if they were getting 25% of the net win? Or if they could find a way to have the state pay a licensing fee to use their team names and brands on their tote boards?

Even the NCAA has gotten into the act. They came out with an edict, “No predetermined or non-predetermined session of an NCAA championship may be conducted in a state with legal wagering that is based upon single-game betting (high school, college or professional) in a sport in which the NCAA conducts a championship.” In this case it looks like they are cutting off their nose to spite their face. The new Delaware law prohibits any type of sports betting on any Delaware college game. So, this new policy only punishes the students at Delaware universities. In addition, Delaware, has often been a preferred football playoff host because the Uinveristy of Delaware’s stadium holds 22,000 and because their program is always among the national leaders in Division I-AA average attendance.

So unless there is a force mejure at work here, Las-Vegas style betting parlors will open in three racinos in Delaware on September 1. One of them is less then 30 minutes from Philadelphia. We are planning a road trip and expect to be there by 10AM.

But, this does not mean that East Coast players’ accounts will sit idle. I doubt that there will be road trips to Delaware on Monday to check lines and that there will ever be a traffic jam at the racino after a key injury is announced. And certainly there will be no teaser or prop wagering.

So how do the offshore operators feel? One told us that, “We support any decision that sheds light on the fact that the vast majority of Americans consider the concept of gambling on sports to be a right they should be able to exercise legally . . . regardless of their jurisdiction.”

I couldn’t agree more.