Sports betting has existed in some way, shape, or form in Delaware since 1976, and once a nationwide prohibition was lifted, the First State was as quick as any to expand its offerings.
Disclaimer: For those outside of Delaware, you may face restrictions on the offers you see on this page.
Thanks to stacks of oldfangled football parlay cards sold in supermarkets, Delaware has been in the sports betting business longer than any state outside of Nevada. This is almost fitting, given Delaware's distinction as the First State.
Through a nationwide prohibition on sports betting and some legal tossing and turning, the parlay cards persisted. And once that prohibition was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, Delaware's horse racetracks wasted no time opening brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in 2018.
Mobile betting would have to wait until 2023, when BetRivers launched its platform in an exclusive partnership with the Delaware Lottery. In spite of this monopoly and fierce competition from neighboring states, tiny Delaware handled $28.4 million in sports bets in December 2024, then an all-time monthly high.
Current Sportsbooks
4Licenses Allowed
2Mobile Sportsbook
January, 1976
The Delaware Lottery starts selling parlay cards for pro and college football games at retail outlets like grocery stores. This small step would enable Delaware to be partially exempted from the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that would pass in 1992.
May 14, 2009
Governor Jack Markell signs a sports betting bill into law which authorizes single-game wagering in Delaware.
July 24, 2009
Shortly after Delaware signs single-game sports betting into law, the NCAA, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB sue the state, claiming its law is in violation of PASPA. The U.S. Appeals Court later rules in the leagues' favor, but allows parlay wagering to continue in Delaware.
May 14, 2018
The U.S. Supreme Court repeals PASPA, giving every state the right to offer regulated sports wagering. With its preexisting betting apparatus, Delaware is among the first states to offer this form of gambling.
June 5, 2018
The state's three horse racetracks quickly open retail sportsbooks, which would be the only way people in Delaware could place single-game wagers on sports for more than five years.
December 27, 2023
As the exclusive mobile partner of the Delaware Lottery, BetRivers launches its online sportsbook in the First State.
Yes. Sports betting in Delaware dates back to 1976, making it one of the few states to offer some form of sports wagering prior to the 2018 repeal of PASPA.
Anyone who is physically present within Delaware's boundaries and at least 21 years of age can place a mobile or in-person wager in the First State.
The Delaware Lottery regulates sports betting in the First State and counts BetRivers as its lone mobile partner for such wagering.
Delaware's lone mobile operator, BetRivers, offers wagering on a plethora of sports, including: basketball, baseball ,soccer, tennis, hockey, golf, MMA, football, motorsports, Australian Rules Football, boxing, cricket, cycling, darts, floorball, handball, lacrosse, netball, pesapallo, rugby, snooker, softball, table tennis, volleyball, and winter sports.
There's no wagering on college athletes or teams who compete for Delaware schools.
Daily fantasy sports contests have been explicitly legal in Delaware since 2017, with FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo among the state's DFS operators.
Delaware has a rich tradition of hosting live horse racing, and it is indeed legal to wager on horses in the state. Delaware's three live tracks, each of which have brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, are Bally's Dover Casino Resort (aka Dover Downs), Delaware Park, and Harrington Raceway. These racetracks all host simulcast wagering, and it is also legal for people in Delaware to bet online through account-wagering platforms like TVG, TwinSpires, and FanDuel Racing.
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Rosallion, a leading 2-year-old of 2023, won the Irish 2000 Guineas and the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes last year at age 3. The only horse to defeat him during 2024, Notable Speech, took down Rosallion in 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in England, and went on to capture the Group 1 Sussex over older horses before finishing a troubled third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
With a perfect trip over his favorite turf course, Utah Beach, an 11-1 shot, won the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes last month at Keeneland, getting up by a head over favored Limited Liability, the recipient of, shall we say, an adventuresome trip.
Does that sound like the road to a second straight graded stakes win over 1 1/2 miles on turf in the Grade 3, $250,000 Louisville Stakes on Saturday night at Churchill Downs?
Maybe.
BALTIMORE – Way to Be Marie is coming off the best race of her career in winning the Tom Benson Memorial in March at Fair Grounds. If there is more improvement to come from the 4-year-old filly, Way to Be Marie could be the one to beat in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico.
Way to Be Marie had a busy winter at Fair Grounds, finishing in the money in three stakes, including the off-the-turf Pago Hop. She got a beautiful, off-the-pace trip in the Benson, one race after dueling on the lead in the Al Stall Memorial when finishing third.
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Journalism, second to Sovereignty as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, gets a second chance to win a classic race when he starts as an even stronger favorite in Saturday’s 150th Preakness Stakes. This will be the last Preakness run at Pimlico before the grandstand is torn down and rebuilt with a target reopening of spring 2027. The 2026 Preakness is scheduled to be held at Laurel Park.
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The positives include a class drop, return to firm turf, and route-to-sprint cutback that trainer Phil D’Amato hopes will lead to the first win by Uncorked in a year. That’s the problem. Uncorked has lost eight straight since winning the Grade 3 Royal Heroine at a mile in April 2024.
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