A Wedge for Wagering

There is one in every office: the guy with the shoebox and slips of paper who organizes the football betting pool. His species could be about to become extinct in Delaware, however, where the first legalized betting on professional football games began last week. Like many other states, Delaware is strapped for funds and has turned to state-run sports gambling as a new source of revenue. But unlike other states, which have limited matters to local horse tracks, punters in Delaware are being invited to put their money on fellows in shoulder pads running up and down gridirons all over the nation.

The National Football League is outraged at the halfback-horse equation implied in the Delaware plan, and worries that legalized gambling might spread and lead to scandal. The league went to federal court to stop the pool, but lost the first round of its suit. The N.F.L.'s concern about fixes is real and its policing of the game is aggressive. A full-time staff of investigators monitors coaches and players, and the league is quick to act when it scents potential trouble; witness the celebrated suspension of Paul Hornung for wagering on games and the order that Joe Namath sell his interest in a restaurant frequented by betting types. Illegal gambling on pro football is already massive, of course: polls have indicated that 31 million Americans wager some $15 billion annually on the outcome of N.F.L. games. But the N.F.L. argues that any wagering, legal or not, carries a potential of trouble. Says League Commissioner Pete Rozelle: "The world knows no less rational person than a losing bettor."

Delaware's system is modeled on horse racing's familiar parimutuel pool method. Bettors may buy into two weekly pools, called "Football Bonus" and "Touchdown." The Bonus requires picking winners outright in either seven or 14 N.F.L. games; in Touchdown, fans must hit the point spread correctly as well as predict the outcome of any three, four or five games. It will cost $20 to bet on the Football Bonus and $10 on Touchdown. The payoffs, which will be announced on Tuesdays following the weekend games, will amount to 45% of the total pool. At race tracks, by contrast, about 80% of the handle is returned to bettors as winnings.

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