US court says Delaware sports betting plan illegal

PHILADELPHIA Aug 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday that a plan by Delaware to allow sports betting violates federal law, siding with major sports leagues who had argued it would promote game fixing.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled against the state which wanted to allow betting on single games in all the major sports from Sept. 1 at three of its racetrack betting locations.

Delaware, which is seeking additional revenue to overcome an $800 million budget deficit, would have been the second state after Nevada to allow betting on sporting events.

Attorneys for the U.S. professional leagues for football, baseball, basketball and hockey had sought an injunction against the plan on the grounds that sports betting would encourage game fixing and violate a 1992 federal law that sought to prevent the spread of sports betting.

Circuit judge Theodore McKee said the Delaware plan would violate the 1992 law. The court was due to issue an order explaining its ruling later on Monday. (Reporting by Jon Hurdle, editing by Claudia Parsons )