The little state of Delaware has become a big problem for New Jersey.

At least pokerwise.

Late last week, the state legislature in Delaware legalized casino table games–including poker–at all the state’s casinos.

The news is a major blow to nearby New Jersey, which has about a dozen casinos in Atlantic City and had been until recently the only place for legal poker in the region.

The Delaware news is actually the second punch of a one-two blow to Jersey’s head–a few weeks earlier, nearby Pennsylvania also legalized casino table games including poker.

Officials in Delaware said poker and other table games, including roulette, craps and blackjack, will commence at the state’s three casinos this summer.

Time is needed until then to train hundreds of people how to deal poker and execute the other games, the officials said.

With the addition of table games, Delaware now will offer the widest array of gambling choices of any state outside Nevada.

Delaware already has racetracks, where the casinos are located.

The casinos currently offer slot machines, including video poker machines, as well as sports betting.

A downslide in gambling revenues that has afflicted New Jersey recently is sure to be exacerbated with the news of additional gambling now in the region.

After 30 years of annually increasing profits, New Jersey’s casinos last year for the first time experienced a drop in revenues.

The drop was attributed to the earlier legalization in Pennsylvania of slot machine/video poker casinos.

With poker–the most popular form of gambling–now on the menu in Delaware and Pennsylvania, New Jersey’s gambling fortunes are expected to further deteriorate.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)