Delaware will launch real-money online gaming on Oct. 31. The Halloween treat for casino players was confirmed Tuesday at the World Regulatory Briefing in Philadelphia by Dover Downs Hotel and Casino President and CEO Ed Sutor.
"In nine days, Delaware will be the first state in the country to go with full online gaming," Sutor said.
"It is going to bring customers back to the brick-and-mortars," Sutor added.
Delaware is allowing its three casinos to offer a full suite of casino games online, including slot machines, table games and poker. Players need to be physically located in Delaware to play with one of Delaware's three casinos online.
Nevada, which became the first state to allow people within its borders to participate in online gaming earlier this year, only allows online poker to be offered.
In November, New Jersey's Atlantic City casinos will begin offering the full suite of casino games online to people in New Jersey.
While Delaware's casinos will be free to do their own marketing, they're essentially required to hook their brands into the platform being operated by the Delaware State Lottery. The Delaware Lottery elected to use 888's gaming platform for the online casino and poker rooms. Scientific Games is responsible for age verification, location verification, payment processing and other issues.
Sutor expects that once Delaware is up and running, they'll be able to turn their attention to compacting with other states -- and even other countries -- to build up player liquidity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Delaware has a population of approximately 917,000 people.
"I've heard New Jersey is hesitant to do a compact with Delaware because we're so competitive," Sutor said. "But they shouldn't be."
Sutor also said he expects Delaware to pursue agreements to share player pools with other countries, with the U.K. being at the top of the list.