Dover will roll the dice on NASCAR bets
DOVER, DEL.» Place your bets at Dover and let it ride: The track is ready to roll the dice on NASCAR betting.
NASCAR fans could skip blackjack tables and roulette wheels inside Dover Downs Hotel and Casino if they want to bet on their lucky numbers this weekend at Dover International Speedway.
Want to stay on 18? Good choice, Kyle Busch is a 31 favorite to win at the Monster Mile.
Love the 48 at his best track? Jimmie Johnson has 151 odds to win at Dover for the 12th time.
And if you’re feeling lucky, how about threetime Dover winner Matt Kenseth at 3001?
Sports betting has come to Delaware and the track is set to throw open the betting windows and allow wagers on most of this weekend’s track activity. The NASCAR Cup race on Sunday is the main attraction, and fans can bet on the race winner, the first two stage winners, and a slew of prop bets that range from number of drivers to lead a lap to the average race speed.
“It just adds an element of interest to keep people tuned in to what’s going on,” Dover Motorsports CEO Denis McGlynn said.
Delaware landed fullscale sports betting in June, barely three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to implement wagering schemes.
Because of a failed sports lottery experiment in 1976, Delaware was partially exempted from the 1992 federal ban on sports gambling that was recently struck down by the Supreme Court. That exemption led to broader sports betting legislation passed in 2009 and Delaware enacted an NFL parlay wagering system, which combined to give the state a head start in offering fullscale sports wagering.
At Dover Downs and Dover International Speedway, singlegame and championship wagering on professional baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, golf and auto racing are now offered, with betting lines supplied by William Hill. There are magazines that tout “Sports Betting: Vegas Style” in hotel rooms.
“They can do it all here,” McGlynn said.
Ryan Blaney, who won last week’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, said he wouldn’t tell his friends to bet on him to win Sunday’s playoff race.
At 201 to win at Dover, that’s probably good advice.
“If I lose them money, I’m going to feel bad,” he said. “I’ll be watching the window that weekend. I’ll have to ask if people are constantly betting throughout the race. If you have people who really like to gamble and want to get into a new form of it, maybe they’ll come out and give it a shot. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s a cool little deal that they’re allowing in that state.”
The Delaware News Journal reported this week that NASCAR wagering has raked in just $60,000 since June 5; less than 0.2 percent of the total $39.77 million wagered on all sports so far in the state.
McGlynn said sports betting won’t save NASCAR but it could be part of the cure for a sport impacted by sagging ratings, dwindling attendance and longtime sponsors pulling out of the series.
“It doesn’t replace having a Tiger Woods for the sport,” McGlynn said. Truex to start in third spot. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, who each have seven wins, will start 12 on Sunday at Dover International Speedway to kick off the roundof12 playoff race on the mile concrete track.
Rain washed out NASCAR Cup qualifying Friday, setting the lineup on points and giving the top dozen spots to the 12 playoff drivers.
Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer round out the top five. Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman start sixth to 12th.