After 2012’s boom year for sports bettors in Delaware, 2013 is tipping in the state’s favor.
Not only are patrons wagering more, but also more money is staying in the state’s coffers. Lottery office reports that the state earned about $25.7 million dollars so far this year.
The state's earnings have been strong since November 2012. Delaware took a roughly $572,000 hit that month, but has since collected an average of $2.3 million dollars each month since the NFL regular season began in September.
State lottery director Vernon Kirk says they’ve already surpassed last year’s total profit.
“Last year’s total for the year was $25.4 million. We are now at $25.65 million, so with the rest of the year to go it’s all profit. It’s all gravy,” said Kirk.
Based on wagering patterns this year, Kirk predicts the state could wind up adding up to $30 million to its bottom line. Last year, bettors netted enough winnings to leave net revenue relatively flat overall.
“Which, when you think about it, little ol’ Delaware [having] three event parlay [locations] is just amazing," said Kirk. "You know, [we’ve earned] $30 million in a pretty brief season so things are going really well.”
Kirk adds the sports betting numbers tend to cool this time of year, as bettors’ willingness to wager slows as the NFL season begins to wind down, but for the year it appears adding 31 new sports betting retail vendors seems to have paid off for the state lottery office.
Sports betting doubled its retail presence beginning in August to 69 stores, along with the sports books locations at Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway and Casino.
The number of patrons’ bets rose by about 24 percent over last year. 2012 itself stood as a bumper year, with bets increasing by roughly 42 percent over 2011 as added retail venues outside the racinos for the first time.