Predicting one game is skill, but two games is luck

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) is expected to sign a bill this week to legalize sports gambling in his state. His hope is to have a betting system in place for the start of the NFL season.1

However, the legislation could get held up in the Delaware Supreme Court. It seems there’s a feeling that the bill would be constitutional only if chance, not skill, is the dominant factor in who wins a bet.

If that's the case, USA Today reports, the court would limit the sports gambling to parlay bets. (These are wagers that link together multiple single bets. To win a parlay, you must correctly predict several outcomes at once.)

But as I see it, parlays are just like regular bets — only harder to win.

Therefore, if the courts determine that predicting one sports outcome requires skill, not chance, then predicting multiple outcomes requires an even higher skill level. Not chance.


1According to the Wilmington News Journal, the NFL claims it opposes this bill.

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