The state of Delaware’s appeal of a ruling that its plan to allow betting on professional sports violates a federal ban will not be heard, a federal court ruled on Tuesday, reports the Reuters news agency.

Thomas M. Hardiman, one of 3 judges who ruled unanimously in August that Delaware’s plan to allow point-spread bets on individual games in all major sports from 3 racetrack casinos violated federal law and initially ruled that Delaware's betting plans infringe on a federal ban, wrote that the state's en banc petition was given to all active judges of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and a majority decided not to rehear the case.

The state has one more avenue of appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Governor Jack Markell's spokesman called that route as "unlikely". Instead, for the predictable future and maybe permanently, Delaware will be limited to "parlay" bets on the outcome of at least 3 National Football League NFL games.

The state's 3 racetrack casinos have been offering such wagers at their betting parlors since Sept. 10, opening day of the NFL season. Governor Jack Markell did not comment straight away. But in a written statement, legal counsel Michael Barlow.

Michael Barlow said, "Obviously, we are disappointed with today's ruling. We realize that it is rare that the Third Circuit will hear cases with all 12 active judges, but this was an important issue for the state of Delaware and we thought the state should have a chance to make its case at trial."

Governor Jack Markell spokesman Joe Rogalsky said the state was still reviewing its options, but was unlikely to appeal to the only higher judicial body, the Supreme Court.

"I'm extremely disappointed," said Bill Fasy, president of Delaware Park, which along with Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway spent a total of about $15 million on fancy sports betting venues at their casinos.

"In the big picture this is a blow to any potential growth in our already saturated market." While Delaware, which expects to bring in for about $249 million in state revenues from its casinos this year and also preparing to offer table games such as blackjack and roulette in the spring that Atlantic City casinos have long offered them.

Delaware sports gambling will be limited to parlay bets on the outcome of at least 3 National Football League NFL games. About $946,000 has been bet so far.

Lawyers for Delaware last Monday appealed a federal court ruling that severely restricted the state's sports-betting plans. The legal move requests to bring back the Diamond State's effort to take bets on a line-up of pro and college sports and on single games. It grapples a three-judge panel madean acute fallacies when it's deciding Delaware could undertake only multigame wagers on National Football League action.

That ruling came in late August, just days before Delaware's 3 racetrack casinos were to begin taking bets they hoped would make the state an East Coast mecca for sports bettors. The federal appeals court and dealt another body blow to Delaware's plans for a new sports betting lottery, saying it must be limited to parlay bets on professional football games.

The appeal says that sports betting in Delaware would violate a 1992 federal ban on such wagering, basically obstructing the state's plans to start taking bets on September.

State officials had planned to offer single-game wagers as well as bets on other sports, but that plan was shot down. The appeal was filed last September 14, 2009. Lawyers for the state assert the appeals court ruling is opposed to previous rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Delaware was absolved from a federal ban on sports betting because it conducted an NFL sports lottery in 1976.

Delaware officials were looking forward to offer single-game betting on a variety of sports, not just the National Football League, because it would be more advantageous.

However, lawyers for the major sports leagues and the NCAA, led by the National Football League, sued Delaware last July and successfully argued that the state's plans violated a 1992 federal law that banned sports betting.

The law that was known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) , exempted Delaware and 3 other states, but only "to the extent" that they offered sports betting previously. Delaware authorized parlay betting on NFL games in 1976, but it was such a failure that it shut it down after one season.

The sports betting launched at Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Raceway & Casino Sept. 10, but officials are unsure how much revenue limited parlay wagering will generate. The state was banking on tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year, and the tracks spent millions of dollars to upgrade existing race books that previously offer only full-card simulcasts.

Under a deal with horsemen, the racetracks will pay 9.6% of revenue from sports betting to purses. Horsemen receive 9% of revenue from VLTs; legislation awards purses 4.5% of revenue from table games when they become operational at the tracks.