SOURCE: Delawareonline.com

So Harrah's opens a new swanky, restaurant-rich racino in Chester, Pa., with a glamorous view of the river and lottery revenue projections in Delaware go up?

But no one in Delaware government with a half an ounce of sense can expect that to continue, especially now that Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and his Democratic leadership has decided they like the idea of slot machines at race tracks. During Republican Gov. Robert Erlich's one-term administration, slots were never able to get out of committees of that same leadership. That's sometimes called shameless political partisanship.

Anyway, given the latest report from the Economic and Financial Advisory Council, there's a need for new sources of revenue for next fiscal year and despite what Gov. Minner hopes, it's not going to be a gasoline tax increase. It's not even going to be Del. 1 toll hikes or increases in the auto registration fee or the new car sales tax, meaning Minner's budget is in deep doo.

Enter P. Gary Ward, the public relations agent for Delaware Sportsbetting Corp., a group looking to take advantage of Delaware's exemption from the federal sports betting prohibition. Nevada, Montana and Oregon are the other three states.

Ward, a Laurel native, is affiliated with International Sports Link Inc., a outfit that runs sports betting on those offshore gambling ships out of Florida and some sports betting parlors on Indian reservations in Canada. He's trying to round up support from legislators to sponsor his bill, which in essence would designate his company as the charter sports betting operator in Delaware. He particularly wants to see sports betting and off-track betting parlors in his home county of Sussex, which as he points out, like Wilmington has been effectively shut out of the gambling jobs and revenue enjoyed by Kent and New Castle counties.

Ward's proposed legislation has no number or sponsor, but does have the interest of Sen. George Bunting of Bethany Beach and Vince Lofink of Bear. Rep. Bill Oberle, considered the father of Delaware racinos, also is pushing sports betting. But he's been promoting it for the three racinos only, not at free-standing betting parlors called for in Ward's proposal.

Ward's idea is more appealing than forcing bettors to schlep to the raceways every time they want to lay down a sports wager. People from Delmar, Laurel and Fenwick Island are already 50-some miles away from a Delaware track.

"We'd have upscale parlors, nice padded seats, cocktails, big- screen TV's and off-track horse betting. That would benefit the tracks because of a bigger handle. Another 5 percent of off-track parlors' profits would go to the racetracks and the horsemen's purse," Ward said.

Ward pointed out that Delaware is the only state in the Middle Atlantic that doesn't have off-track betting. There's even an off-track betting parlor just across the Pennsylvania line on U.S. 202. Another is in Cambridge, Md., and still another is west of Elkton, Md.

An argument can be made that sports bettors are like rail birds; they don't play slots. It would be a truly new revenue source.

Lofink said he's not married to the idea that sports betting be 100 percent track-based. "I welcome his [Ward's] participation in the discussion."

Bunting, who sponsored an unsuccessful sports wagering bill last year, agreed its time has come. "We may be in the so-called Bible belt, but people here do bet. And you'd be surprised who some of them are."

Recent estimates put sports betting revenue at $70 million annually. That might be overly optimistic.

Then again, slots revenue in the first year of operation came in three times higher than estimates.