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Gov. Jack Markell today revealed the state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal court decision that stunted Delaware's sports betting enterprise last year.
Markell's Chief of Staff Tom McGonigle said the state's three racinos will finance the filing of a request that the high court hear the appeal, known as a writ of certiorari.
McGonigle said the state has retained international law firm Sidley Austin, based in Chicago, to prepare its case.
In August, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia sided with major sports leagues and ruled that Delaware's plan to offer full-service betting on professional and amateur sports violated federal law. The court said Delaware only may offer parlay bets on NFL games, since the law allows states to implement sports betting only to the extent it was conducted in the past.
The state attempted to appeal the decision to the full 12-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit, but that request was denied. Later, the state asked for and was granted an extension that allowed it additional time to consider an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Mike Barlow, chief legal counsel to the governor, said the state intends to pursue a different legal argument in its appeal than what it offered to the 3rd Circuit.
Instead of arguing that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the federal law at issue, allows Delaware to offer full service sports betting, the state will raise the constitutional issue of enumerated powers and states' rights, Barlow said.
A spokesman from the NFL, which led the charge to oppose sports betting in Delaware, said the league has no comment on the appeal.
Officials reported the state spent approximately $600,000 on the court battle as it escalated from U.S. District Court to the 3rd Circuit.
Barlow said the state has agreed to pay Sidley Austin $50,000 to prepare the appeal request, and if the court agrees to hear the case the state will discuss additional legal fees with the racinos.
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino CEO Ed Sutor said the racinos are willing to pay whatever it takes to advance the appeal, but the three venues will split the costs according to their respective shares of sports betting profits.
"It's worth it, the risk reward," he said. "We don't have an exact dollar amount, we have to trust the state that they're doing the right thing."
Gov. Jack Markell today revealed the state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal court decision that stunted Delaware's sports betting enterprise last year.
Markell's Chief of Staff Tom McGonigle said the state's three racinos will finance the filing of a request that the high court hear the appeal, known as a writ of certiorari.
McGonigle said the state has retained international law firm Sidley Austin, based in Chicago, to prepare its case.
In August, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia sided with major sports leagues and ruled that Delaware's plan to offer full-service betting on professional and amateur sports violated federal law. The court said Delaware only may offer parlay bets on NFL games, since the law allows states to implement sports betting only to the extent it was conducted in the past.
The state attempted to appeal the decision to the full 12-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit, but that request was denied. Later, the state asked for and was granted an extension that allowed it additional time to consider an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Mike Barlow, chief legal counsel to the governor, said the state intends to pursue a different legal argument in its appeal than what it offered to the 3rd Circuit.
Instead of arguing that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the federal law at issue, allows Delaware to offer full service sports betting, the state will raise the constitutional issue of enumerated powers and states' rights, Barlow said.
A spokesman from the NFL, which led the charge to oppose sports betting in Delaware, said the league has no comment on the appeal.
Officials reported the state spent approximately $600,000 on the court battle as it escalated from U.S. District Court to the 3rd Circuit.
Barlow said the state has agreed to pay Sidley Austin $50,000 to prepare the appeal request, and if the court agrees to hear the case the state will discuss additional legal fees with the racinos.
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino CEO Ed Sutor said the racinos are willing to pay whatever it takes to advance the appeal, but the three venues will split the costs according to their respective shares of sports betting profits.
"It's worth it, the risk reward," he said. "We don't have an exact dollar amount, we have to trust the state that they're doing the right thing."
Sutor and the governor also were quick to deny any connection between their agreement on the appeal and other looming debates over gambling in Delaware, particularly over the possible establishment of new casinos.
"There are no side deals, no other promises," Sutor said.
House Majority Leader Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, agreed and said the racinos and the state have a shared interest at stake.
"We're a partnership, it's only fair that they contribute," he said. "There's no quid-pro-quo."
Rep. Tom Kovach, R-Brandywine Hundred South, one of the few attorneys in the General Assembly, said the state's appeal request is a longshot and he's pleased with the racinos' willingness to foot the bill.
"Now we don't have to waste any more taxpayer money," he said. "I can tell my constituents that the government is not paying for it."
By all accounts, chances are slim that the Supreme Court will elect to grant the appeal, since it hears roughly 90-100 of the some 10,000 cases submitted to it each year.
However, Schwartzkopf believes the high court is the state's best hope for a fair trial on the sports betting issue.
The majority leader said the three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit that decided the case was biased, since the justices all hail from either Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
"The three judges are from two states that don't want us to have sports betting," he said.
Schwartzkopf and Kovach also took issue with the fact that the 3rd Circuit ruled on the case in the first place, since the court only was asked to review a lower court's decision not to force Delaware to immediately halt its sports betting plans.
Instead, the 3rd Circuit chose to exercise its authority to rule on the matter of law at the core of the case — an rare judicial move.
As a result, the state was not able to plead its case in the context of a typical trial, nor was it able to call witnesses, submit expert testimony or delve deep into the intricacies of the issue.
"I think we stand a chance of a complete hearing at the Supreme Court," Schwartzkopf said. "I don't think it's very far that we weren't given a full hearing."
