A federal appeals court has ruled that a plan to offer sports betting in Delaware would violate a federal ban.
The plan was opposed by the professional sports leagues and the NCAA.
The ruling came Monday after a three-judge panel in Philadelphia heard almost two hours of arguments from attorneys for the state and for the leagues.
Delaware claims it is exempt from a federal ban on sports betting because it ran a sports lottery in 1976. But the leagues argued that the exemption does not allow Delaware to offer bets on single games or on sports other than professional football.