Sports betting history was made today as sports bettors in Delaware placed the first legal bets under the new state-sponsored sports betting system. The AP covered this remarkable milestone, outlining some of the contentious history surrounding this issue:

DOVER, Del. — Sports betting in Delaware officially got under way Thursday after surviving a contentious legal battle with professional sports leagues and the NCAA.

Bill Mele, a cemetery supervisor from Dover, was so eager to get started he tried to place his wager a minute or two before the official 10 a.m. kickoff. The computer at the new, high-tech sports book at Dover Downs casino wouldn’t accept his initial bet, so he had to wait a couple of minutes and try again.

“I wanted to get my sports bet in, and when I realized they were having a Thursday night game, I got pretty excited,” said Mele, who celebrated his 57th birthday by becoming the first person to place a sports bet at Dover Downs.

Delaware is now the only state east of the Rocky Mountains to offer legal sports wagering.

The casinos at Delaware Park near Wilmington and at Harrington Raceway and Casino in southern Delaware also began taking bets in advance of Thursday night’s NFL regular season opener between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans.

Under a federal appeals court ruling in a lawsuit brought by professional sports leagues and the NCAA, Delaware’s sports betting is restricted to parlay, or multiple wagers on at least three NFL games. A bettor must pick all the games correctly to win.

Delaware officials were hoping to offer bets on single games and sports other than professional football, but the court said that went beyond what was allowed under the state’s exemption to the 1992 federal ban on sports betting. Delaware was exempted from the ban because it had previously conducted an NFL sports lottery in 1976.

This video above is from the DelawareOnline.tv and it gives you a first-hand look at the front lines of this raging battle.

On a related note, the NFL season starts today. If you are an American customer looking for an online sportsbook, we recommend you check out Canbet.com. They offer $400 free for new customers right now, and they have a rock solid reputation in the industry. Full disclosure: the link provided is part of an affilate program, but the recommendation is 100% genuine and unbiased. Thanks for your continued support and good luck to you in the upcoming NFL season!

With all the recent news regarding online sports betting, it’s interesting to note that there is no lack of Casino Games Online available to American players already. Casinos are more than willing to take American players for games such as Slots and Online Poker, despite the difficulties presented by the existing U.S. laws. It’s sad that the U.S. Government is happy to look the other way regarding Online Slots Games, but are quick to crack down on sports betting.

If you do plan to spend some time and money in online casinos, you may want to check out GamblingReview.com. They offer detailed reviews of the most popular online casinos, as well as gambling tips, bonus info, and a regularly updated blog. If you want to learn how to play popular casino games including slots, blackjack, roulette, texas holdem and video poker, this is a decent place to start. GamblingReview has been around since 1998, which in internet time makes it one of the more established gaming review sites on the web. It’s pretty important to get the lowdown on an online casino before you play, because unlike sports betting, their software controls the outcome of your wager. In this situation, it’s of utmost importance to have trust in the casino operator.

Happy March Madness everyone, I hope you’re all doing better with your picks than I am! Here is a quick update of the latest news from the sports betting world:

• New Jersey sues Federal Government, claims sports betting ban is unconstitutional – this is huge! If this suit is successful it could legalize sports betting for all U.S. citizens. We’ll continue to monitor this story very closely.
• New Vegas casino offers in game wagering – the new M Resort has immediately become the gold standard for sports betting in Vegas. “All the sports lines will originate here,” M Resorts Chairman Anthony Marnell III said during a recent interview. “It used to be the Stardust set the lines. Now, it’s us.”
• Delaware budget contains legalized sports betting – the budget proposal for Delaware contains provisions for a state sponsored sports betting “lottery”. It looks like the local media is supporting the bill and we may see this landmark legislation pass.
• NCAA kills March Madness wagering in Canadian casinos – another example of U.S. entities using their economic and political power to take away the sports betting freedoms of foreign citizens.
• President Obama smiles on online sports betting – Carter Randel writes, “Barack Obama showed he shares the people’s disregard for online gambling laws by appearing on ESPN to make his own bracket picks.” Randel continues, “The President has acknowledged enjoying playing poker, has shown visionary use of the Internet in his campaign, and now flirts with online sports gambling on natiuonal television.” This could point to a brighter future for online sports betting in the U.S. under the Obama administration. I’m hoping for the best.

In addition to sports betting, I occasionally like to play backgammon and blackjack online. Recently I noticed that more and more “celebrities” were appearing at the table – names such as Tom Cruise, Jon Stewart, and even Howard Stern. Looking for answers, I found this blackjack site that explained the phenomenon to me. Apparently people are registering these names as a form of online “vanity plates”. Using the names, the users are able to receive the VIP treatment at the virtual tables from both the site administrators and the fellow players. These names are called “Gold Usernames” and are frequently sold to the highest bidder through various aftermarket channels. In some countries this is considered a form of identity theft, even landing a Moroccan man a 3 year jail sentence for using the name of the prince of that country! The man was released after serving 43 days of his term due to pressure from petition signers and Human Rights groups around the world, but this case has raised awareness that in some instances, a username is not just a username. I can see this becoming an issue more and more in sports betting online as more and more “peer to peer” sites open up and folks are competing directly against other users rather than the house.

You may still remember Singapore as the uptight southeast Asian nation that likes to cane graffiti artists. Well things have changed and Singapore is poised to open several mega casinos in the upcoming two years. I recently was introduced to a new site that offers all the information you’d need to find the best Singapore Casino.

“Singapore Rocks” provides information on the upcoming mega casinos to be opened in 2009 in Singapore. For example, the Marina Bay Sands is the tentative name for Singapore’s first casino, being developed by one of the world’s biggest gambling companies, Las Vegas Sands, at Marina South in central Singapore. To find out about this, and other casinos scheduled to open soon in Singapore, check out this Singapore Casinos FAQ.