That announcement came on the heels of other news, both good and bad, related to Delaware's Internet gambling launch. The bad news is that the projected date of going live with real-money online gambling sites has been pushed back to October. The good news is that play-money sites have already been launched.

The play-money roll out allows players throughout the world who visit the websites of Dover Downs, Harrington Raceway and Casino, and Delaware Park to gamble online at DoubleDown Casino via Facebook. Once the real-money virtual switch is turned on in October, only players residing in Delaware will be permitted to enjoy roulette, slots, poker, blackjack and the like for cold, hard cash.

The delay in real-money Internet gambling comes as no surprise, as Delaware gaming officials had aggressively selected September as the month in which all systems would be go. Seeing the unforeseen delays in additional website launches in Nevada's online poker scheme, many were anticipating that Delaware would also fall victim to a similar fate.

New Jersey's projected date of late November for its Internet gambling regime may also be a bit on the premature side. That launch may wind up being nearer to Christmas than Thanksgiving.

Tom Cook, Delaware Secretary of Finance, told delawareonline.com that The First State and the Silver State may be combining Internet poker player pools in the first quarter of 2014. Both states are envisioning partnerships with other states that eventually climb aboard the state-by-state online gambling format legally permitted in the U.S.

Also next year, players in Delaware who prefer online gambling via mobile devices will be in luck. Cook believes that mobile online gaming will also be in place sometime in 2014.