Count on sports betting as revenue source

Every time the state needs a fiscal shot in the arm, legalized gambling is eyed as a source of revenue.

Looking for a sure bet? Put the house on this: Every time the state needs a fiscal shot in the arm – and when is the last time it didn’t? – you can bet some industrious elected representative will turn to the one tried-and-true failsafe when it comes to putting a few more dollars in the state’s piggy bank. Gambling. The legal kind. And unless you missed perhaps the biggest story in the region while arguing about President Trump and the Eagles, legal wagering in the region entered a whole new realm this week.

It just might be the most important story no one is talking about.

You can now hop in your car, drive a few minutes down I-95 into Delaware, and place legal wagers on sporting events.

That comes less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with New Jersey and cleared the way for states to get in on massive pool of sports betting. Move over, Las Vegas.

Delaware rolled out legal sports betting this week. New Jersey is quickly following suit. Pennsylvania? Well, that could take a little longer.

Eight states were already in line for legal sports betting when the high court’s ruling came down – New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware , Iowa, New York, Mississippi and West Virginia.

They have laws in place in anticipation of the court ruling in favor of expanded gaming.

A slew of other states are considering similar proposals.

As of Tuesday, instead of jetting off to the Nevada desert, or simply plunking down a wager with their local bookie, bettors in the region can now test their sports acumen at Delaware casinos.

Dover Downs took in 36 bets in the first 20 minutes after cutting the ribbon on a new era of wagering Tuesday.

You can bet on professional baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, golf and auto racing.

New Jersey, the one-time home of casino gambling outside Las Vegas before other states, including Pennsylvania, honed in on the action, was the leader of the pack when it came to the lawsuit challenging the ban on sports betting.

Now they’re looking to cash in. Garden State officials hope to have a bill signed by the end of the week to allow sports wagering at casinos and horse racing tracks.

Here in Pennsylvania? Not so fast.

So far there does not appear to be a stampede for sports betting licenses.

That is because they aren’t cheap.

Start with the feds. They get 25 percent of the amount wagered.

Then state officials stick their hand into the till. Pennsylvania officials are drooling at the possibility of skimming a whopping 36 percent off the top.

That’s 34 percent to Harrisburg, and 2 percent to local municipalities.

Then there is the licensing fee just to get started. The state is looking for $10 million up front. So far no one has offered an application.

It likely will be months before Pennsylvania has all the mechanisms in place for legalized sports betting.

There is something unseemly about our seeming insatiable focus on gambling to provide needed new state revenue. Make no mistake, there is a price to pay for all this wagering, both economic and social. There is no shortage of families ripped apart by the “wages” of sin.

But woe to anyone who suggests the state end its current position as the only major gas-producing state that does not hit drillers with a severance tax.

We instead opt for a “fee” that produces millions less in revenue than the tax would.

But gambling? As usual, we’re all in.

And as usual, we’re tripping all over ourselves in the process of getting this up and running.

It’s enough to drive a man to drink.

And make him drive to Delaware to do it.

Same goes for sports betting.

That means a trip down I-95 – at least for the time being – as well.

Or you could simply continue to patronize your neighborhood bookie.

Here’s one more sure bet. They’re probably not thrilled about this new era of legal gambling either.