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!

An epic battle is brewing. The two opposing sides are readying themselves for the fray; recruiting foot soldiers, forging alliances, stockpiling ammunition. In recent weeks, powerful interests have thrown down the gauntlet, setting the stage for what promises to be one of the most riveting political and economic rumbles of all time. The issue at the heart of the conflict is the legalization of sports betting and the field of battle is the United States of America.

Some of the most interesting recent developments include:

• Bipartisan coalition unites to legalize online gambling – and tax it: Barney Frank picks up some Republican support for his bill to repeal the UIGEA. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) as usual shows himself to be a leading conservative voice for individual rights.
• NJ Gov. Corzine joins the fight to overturn the Federal ban on sports betting: The New Jersey Governor sees the Constitutional problems with permitting only four states to allow sports betting. A gubernatorial candidate from Massachusetts agrees.
• DoJ Tries to Block New Jersey Governor From Sports Betting Suit: The little lawsuit started by a state lawmaker in NJ has picked up steam, causing the Justice Department to desperately look for obscure legal reasons to prevent it from seeing a trial. Amazing in-depth coverage of this story at MajorWager.com
• GOP Senators come out against States rights on sports betting issue: Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) are taking the lead in the fight against sports betting, challenging Delaware and New Jersey’s attempts to regulate and tax sports betting. Many of their questionable arguments are skillfully rebutted by Delaware politician Peter Schwartzkopf here.
• NFL seeks to stop sports betting in Delaware: The No Fun League joins in on the fun, seeking an injunction to prevent the Delaware sports betting program from going into effect. The other major sports leagues and the NCAA also throw their weight behind the effort.

This is merely the first round in what promises to be a heavy weight fight that goes the distance. In the end, let’s hope the Constitution and the liberty of he American people get the unanimous decision.

It’s not just the temperature on the thermometer that is heating up as we enter into the summer months here in the U.S.; the war over the legality of sports betting has been growing hotter in recent weeks, setting the stage for explosive conflicts between powerful entrenched forces on both sides of the volatile issue.

Some of the incredible stories coming out in recent days:

• Federal prosecutors have seized $30 million of winnings from online poker players. Appealing directly to the banks used by the payment processing companies, the Feds have seized not the funds made by the poker sites, but the legitimate payouts won by U.S. based players. This should be a real wake up call for anyone who cares about their freedom and constitutional rights.
• The Governor of NJ has joined the fight to legalize sports betting in his state. What started as the David and Goliath story of a single state legislator against the U.S. Federal Government is quickly becoming an increasingly fair fight as various heavyweight lobbying groups and political players such as Governor Corzine enter the fray. Is it just a matter of time before other states take up the cause?
• The NCAA threatened to bar tournament games in the state of Montana due to its state-run fantasy sports league. Montana has responded with a rather weak attempt to appease the NCAA bullies.
• The WTO once again rules against the Unites States in a worldwide dispute over the online gambling ban in the United States. Unfortunately these rulings are consistently ignored by our government.
• The NFL is fighting tooth and nail to stop legalized sports betting in Delaware. The truth is that the NFL should be grateful for sports betting according to industry insiders. Meanwhile NFL owners just voted to allow NFL logos to appear on state lottery tickets.
• A guy got his hand chopped off for a gambling debt in NJ. Needless to say this kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the online gambling world where deposits are made up front.
• Finally, the state of Minnesota backs down on its ridiculous demand that the biggest Internet Service Providers block access for Minnesota citizens to certain gambling sites. This is the kind of thing they are doing in China my friends. Credit to iMEGA and the PPA for this small victory.

It’s an interesting time to be following the issue of online sports betting. The landscape could be very different by the start of the football season – though I wouldn’t bet on it.

The big news item today is the blown call at the end of yesterday’s Chargers Steelers game. While not affecting the outcome of the game, the official’s decision to invalidate Pittsburgh’s last minute touchdown caused San Diego to beat the point spread resulting in a lost wager for those who picked Pittsburgh. To make matters worse, the play was originally ruled a touchdown and then was overturned based on a false understanding of the rules. The NY Times paints an interesting picture of the pandemonium that ensued at the Vegas sportsbooks:

As befuddling as the end of Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers was for fans — when an apparent Steelers touchdown on the final play was affirmed by the referee and then waved off with little explanation — imagine if your company had bet $1 million on the point spread and more than 1,000 people were loudly demanding you pay it off.

Bob Scucci did not have to imagine. As the head of sports betting for Boyd Gaming in Las Vegas, he lived it for a harrowing 15 minutes Sunday night, when chaos reigned about the final score. Bettors who had picked the Steelers and given 4 to 5 points believed that Troy Polamalu’s final-play touchdown had made the final score 17-10, making them winners. Those who had taken the Chargers and the points insisted that the play was later reversed and the final score reverted to 11-10, making them the winners.

As he watched the mounting mutiny from behind the counter at the Orleans Casino, Scucci said, he knew that “maybe” would be an insufficient response.

“People were trying to cash all sorts of tickets — no one was really sure,” Scucci recalled in a telephone interview Monday. “They demanded an explanation. It got pretty ugly.”

Ted Sevransky, a prominent professional handicapper, said: “It was chaos. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The controversial play took place soon after the Steelers had kicked a field goal with 11 seconds left to make the score 11-10, with the subsequent kickoff and one last Chargers play from scrimmage remaining. Philip Rivers threw to LaDainian Tomlinson, who lateraled to Chris Chambers, whose toss toward Rivers was tipped by Polamalu — who corralled the ball and ran it into the end zone for an apparent touchdown.

Suddenly the Steelers led, 17-10, with 0:00 on the clock. Pittsburgh bettors were delirious and Chargers bettors distraught, but all joined in communal confusion when the referee, Scott Green, announced that the play was being reviewed.

“It was so loud that we couldn’t hear what the ref was saying,” Scucci said.

At one point, Green signaled touchdown again, but it soon became clear that matters were not settled. Viewers on the East Coast saw CBS flash an 11-10 final score for a few seconds before the network switched to its “60 Minutes” interview with Barack and Michelle Obama. Stations in the Pacific time zone stayed with the CBS game feed.

This is one of the reasons I dislike betting on the point spread. Nothing is more frustrating for me than to lose a bet because my interests as a bettor are no longer in sync with the coach who only cares about winning the game. In this particular case the Steelers coach really had no motivation to argue the call as they had won the game regardless, and you often see examples of teams just spiking the ball at the end of the game rather than kicking an easy field goal if they feel they already have the game won.