Lawmakers see dollar signs in sports betting
State's money troubles might change minds of former foes
<!--Published:200706030345 Modified:200706030316-->By PATRICK JACKSON, The News Journal
Posted Sunday, June 3, 2007
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Cole Hamels of the Phillies pitches Saturday in Philadelphia. Major League Baseball opposes sports betting, as does the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. AP/RUSTY KENNEDY <!--Begin Article4.pbo--><!--ADDITIONAL PHOTOS --><!--End Article4.pbo-->
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DOVER -- With churches and professional football, baseball and basketball leagues rallying in opposition, lawmakers are about to consider a bill that would make Delaware the only state east of the Mississippi River to allow sports betting.
A tax on sports gambling could provide millions to fix the state's highways, fuel education reforms and finance economic development.
And while many lawmakers have long resisted the temptation of easy money, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers says sports betting will likely be on the agenda when the General Assembly returns Tuesday for a final month of legislative business.
Senate President Pro Tem Thurman Adams Jr., D-Bridgeville, isn't likely to allow the sports gambling debate to go public right away. Adams said last week the bill is an appropriate discussion topic for an exclusive state leadership group called the Big Head committee.
In the past, Big Head decisions have ultimately been ratified by rank-and-file lawmakers.
"I think it's very possible that will come up as [the Big Heads] look at the issues," said Adams, who has not favored sports betting in the past. "I think a lot of people who had pretty strong opposition to this in the past understand the financial situation we're in and are willing to look at other things they might not have considered before."
Rep. Vincent A. Lofink, R-Bear, who is working on the measure, says he may ask Adams and other legislative leaders to put the bill on a fast track, a process that stifles public input until late in the process.
Lawmakers now have less than a month before the session ends on July 1 and it would be tough to work such a bill through the normal process that involves committee hearings in the House and Senate.
And opposition to sports betting still runs strong in the General Assembly. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner views even the limited "sports book" that would be possible in Delaware as a bad influence on children.
But many lawmakers don't like Minner's proposed solution to state revenue shortfalls -- a 45-cent cigarette tax increase and an assortment of tax and fee increases to help pay for road construction.
Should more money be needed for next year, lawmakers say, sports betting could break the deadlock over taxes and spending.
If the "Big Head" leaders decide that sports betting is the way to go, the bill Lofink plans to introduce this week will have a strong chance of being adopted -- even if there is a public outcry during hearings that he pledges to hold.
Details are still being worked out, but Lofink said the measure would empower the Delaware Lottery to set rules and develop the game, which would be tied to the state's three racetrack casinos.
The issue has come up since 2002, but has never progressed to closed-door financial negotiations. Lofink said Adams' interest in the plan is encouraging.
"Obviously when someone as influential as Sen. Adams has an interest in a bill, it's a very good sign," Lofink said. "I understand that it doesn't guarantee anything, but I'm definitely pleased he thinks it deserves consideration at that level."
Delaware's attempt at a "sports lottery" failed in 1976, but because the law remained on the state's books, Delaware was grandfathered in under the 1992 federal law banning sports betting.
The state's racinos have been pushing to add the game to counter increasing competition for gamblers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and down the road from Maryland.
Minner has opposed sports betting, and her chief of staff, Mark Brainard, said that hasn't changed.
Minner's argument that a legal sports betting game would suck kids into gambling doesn't wash with Patrice Pikulsky of Selbyville.
"As parents we have a responsibility to know what our children are doing and to steer them away from those things," she said.
The push for a bill this year is aided by the findings of an industry-sponsored study by Morowitz Gaming Advisors LLC, which was presented to the Video Lottery Advisory Council in March and forwarded to Finance Secretary Richard Cordrey.
The Finance Department has said it wants to look at the way the survey was developed to gauge the accuracy of its predictions of $70 million a year in expanded revenue.
The methodology of the study has come under fire from William R. Latham III, a former chairman of the University of Delaware's economics department. He said the study is based on speculation.
Latham was hired by the National Football League to review the study. The NFL and other pro sports leagues oppose the bill.
Laird Stabler IV, a lobbyist for the NFL, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, said consideration of the bill behind closed doors by the Big Head committee is troubling. He said his clients will be ready to make their case in hearing rooms as well as on the House and Senate floors.
"We would prefer an open debate and we will be there forcefully when that time comes," he said. "We think it sets a bad example for young people ... but we also think the state won't get the money it's expecting. We think the figures are inflated."
Stabler said that's because the state's federal exemption is for a game similar to the one in place in 1976. The state can't allow gamblers to place individual bets on a game in a casino or over the phone as happens in Las Vegas. A bettor will have to go to the racino and place some type of combination bet for it to be legal as a game of chance under lottery rules.
Churches around the state also plan to fight the bill.
"It's a tough issue," said the Rev. Robert Hall, a United Methodist minister and executive director of the Delaware Ecumenical Council on Families and Children. "On one hand, we're opposed to this. But on the other, we want money for our programs from the state.
"But we know the damage this can cause and we will be around to make our views known."
Contact Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com
State's money troubles might change minds of former foes
<!--Published:200706030345 Modified:200706030316-->By PATRICK JACKSON, The News Journal
Posted Sunday, June 3, 2007
<!-- <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="200"><tr><td valign="middle">
Read Comments</td></tr></table>--><!--End Article14.pbo--><!-- SUBHEAD --><!-- pbs:article tittel2=1 byline=1 text=1 facts=0 bilde=0 useobjects=1 objectclass=21 --><!-- ARTICLE MAIN PHOTO --><!--Begin Article2.pbo--><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><!--MAIN PHOTO--><IMGPARAMS value="">
<!--End Article2.pbo--><!-- EDITORIAL CARTOON --><!-- MAIN ARTICLE --><!--Begin Article1.pbo--><!-- MAIN ARTICLE CONTENT --><!--06/03/2007
-->
DOVER -- With churches and professional football, baseball and basketball leagues rallying in opposition, lawmakers are about to consider a bill that would make Delaware the only state east of the Mississippi River to allow sports betting.
A tax on sports gambling could provide millions to fix the state's highways, fuel education reforms and finance economic development.
And while many lawmakers have long resisted the temptation of easy money, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers says sports betting will likely be on the agenda when the General Assembly returns Tuesday for a final month of legislative business.
Senate President Pro Tem Thurman Adams Jr., D-Bridgeville, isn't likely to allow the sports gambling debate to go public right away. Adams said last week the bill is an appropriate discussion topic for an exclusive state leadership group called the Big Head committee.
In the past, Big Head decisions have ultimately been ratified by rank-and-file lawmakers.
"I think it's very possible that will come up as [the Big Heads] look at the issues," said Adams, who has not favored sports betting in the past. "I think a lot of people who had pretty strong opposition to this in the past understand the financial situation we're in and are willing to look at other things they might not have considered before."
Rep. Vincent A. Lofink, R-Bear, who is working on the measure, says he may ask Adams and other legislative leaders to put the bill on a fast track, a process that stifles public input until late in the process.
Lawmakers now have less than a month before the session ends on July 1 and it would be tough to work such a bill through the normal process that involves committee hearings in the House and Senate.
And opposition to sports betting still runs strong in the General Assembly. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner views even the limited "sports book" that would be possible in Delaware as a bad influence on children.
But many lawmakers don't like Minner's proposed solution to state revenue shortfalls -- a 45-cent cigarette tax increase and an assortment of tax and fee increases to help pay for road construction.
Should more money be needed for next year, lawmakers say, sports betting could break the deadlock over taxes and spending.
If the "Big Head" leaders decide that sports betting is the way to go, the bill Lofink plans to introduce this week will have a strong chance of being adopted -- even if there is a public outcry during hearings that he pledges to hold.
Details are still being worked out, but Lofink said the measure would empower the Delaware Lottery to set rules and develop the game, which would be tied to the state's three racetrack casinos.
The issue has come up since 2002, but has never progressed to closed-door financial negotiations. Lofink said Adams' interest in the plan is encouraging.
"Obviously when someone as influential as Sen. Adams has an interest in a bill, it's a very good sign," Lofink said. "I understand that it doesn't guarantee anything, but I'm definitely pleased he thinks it deserves consideration at that level."
Delaware's attempt at a "sports lottery" failed in 1976, but because the law remained on the state's books, Delaware was grandfathered in under the 1992 federal law banning sports betting.
The state's racinos have been pushing to add the game to counter increasing competition for gamblers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and down the road from Maryland.
Minner has opposed sports betting, and her chief of staff, Mark Brainard, said that hasn't changed.
Minner's argument that a legal sports betting game would suck kids into gambling doesn't wash with Patrice Pikulsky of Selbyville.
"As parents we have a responsibility to know what our children are doing and to steer them away from those things," she said.
The push for a bill this year is aided by the findings of an industry-sponsored study by Morowitz Gaming Advisors LLC, which was presented to the Video Lottery Advisory Council in March and forwarded to Finance Secretary Richard Cordrey.
The Finance Department has said it wants to look at the way the survey was developed to gauge the accuracy of its predictions of $70 million a year in expanded revenue.
The methodology of the study has come under fire from William R. Latham III, a former chairman of the University of Delaware's economics department. He said the study is based on speculation.
Latham was hired by the National Football League to review the study. The NFL and other pro sports leagues oppose the bill.
Laird Stabler IV, a lobbyist for the NFL, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, said consideration of the bill behind closed doors by the Big Head committee is troubling. He said his clients will be ready to make their case in hearing rooms as well as on the House and Senate floors.
"We would prefer an open debate and we will be there forcefully when that time comes," he said. "We think it sets a bad example for young people ... but we also think the state won't get the money it's expecting. We think the figures are inflated."
Stabler said that's because the state's federal exemption is for a game similar to the one in place in 1976. The state can't allow gamblers to place individual bets on a game in a casino or over the phone as happens in Las Vegas. A bettor will have to go to the racino and place some type of combination bet for it to be legal as a game of chance under lottery rules.
Churches around the state also plan to fight the bill.
"It's a tough issue," said the Rev. Robert Hall, a United Methodist minister and executive director of the Delaware Ecumenical Council on Families and Children. "On one hand, we're opposed to this. But on the other, we want money for our programs from the state.
"But we know the damage this can cause and we will be around to make our views known."
Contact Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com
