DOVER, Del. --- Football season is wrapping up at both the collegiate and professional levels, meaning sports betting season will also be coming to a close for many retailers in Delaware.
Although the First State began taking action on major professional sports in June, retailers have been limited by the Delaware State Lottery to being able to offer parlay bets on professional and college football.
That means if sports bettors must go to one of the state's three casinos to place a wager on single games or sports like basketball and hockey.
"The customer always asks about that," said Mike Patel, owner of Mike's Food Mart in Dover, a retailer that offers parlay betting on football.
Patel and some retailers want the state lottery to expand the types of sports wagering they can offer to match what is currently offered in a casino.
Currently, retailers can only offer customers parlay wagers---a single bet on at least three outcomes of professional and collegiate football games. The wagers can be made using parlay cards with set point spreads or "off the board" lines set by the state's bookmaking vendor.
"They want to do single-game here. They don't want to do casino," Patel said.
Curtis Knight at Cheswold News & Tobacco said there is a similar demand for expanded sports betting at that store.
"They would love to play the basketball, baseball, hockey, any of the other sports. They're a little disappointed they have to go to a casino just to do that," he said.
Vernon Kirk, director of the Delaware State Lottery, said the state does not currently plan to allow retailers to offer wagers that aren't football parlays.
Citing logistical issues, Kirk said it would be difficult to implement betting on basketball and other sports at retail locations---partially because there can be a significantly larger number of games being played in sports like basketball or hockey on a single day than there are in professional football.
Kirk noted the state's take from sports betting in this budget year is more than $10 million and that the state is looking into a potential digital app for sports betting.