It's high stakes for UK companies as sports betting starts to spread out in America.

From Tuesday, brand-new rules on wagering entered impact in Delaware, a small east coast state about two hours from Washington.

Neighbouring New Jersey could start accepting sports bets as early as Friday.

The modifications are the very first in what might end up being a wave of legalisation after the Supreme Court last month cleared the way for states to enable sports betting.

The industry sees a "when in a generation" opportunity to establish a new market in sports betting-mad America, said Dublin-based financial expert David Jennings, who heads leisure research study at Davy.

For UK companies, which are coming to grips with debt consolidation, increased online competitors and tougher rules from UK regulators, the timing is particularly opportune.

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But the market states relying on the US stays a dangerous bet, as UK business deal with complex state-by-state policy and competition from established local interests.

"It's something that we're actually concentrating on, but similarly we don't want to overhype it," said James Midmer, spokesperson at Paddy Power Betfair, which just recently purchased the US fantasy sports betting website FanDuel.

'Require time'

The US accounted for about 23% of the world's $244bn (₤ 182bn) in video gaming revenue in 2015, according to a report by Technavio, external published in January.

Firms are wanting to take advantage of more of that activity after last month's choice, which overruled a 1992 federal law that disallowed states outside of Nevada and a couple of others from authorising sports betting.

The judgment discovered the law was an over-reach of federal power. But the court it did not really legalise sports wagering, leaving that concern to regional lawmakers.

That is expected to cause considerable variation in how companies get licensed, where sports betting wagering can occur, and which events are open to speculation - with big ramifications for the size of the market.

Potential income ranges from $4.2 bn to almost $20bn every year depending upon aspects like how lots of states transfer to legalise, Oxford Economics approximated in a 2017 study for the American Gaming Association.

"There was a great deal of 'this is going to be huge'", said Will Hawkley, London-based head of leisure for consultants KPMG.

Now, he stated: "I think the majority of people ... are looking at this as, 'it's an opportunity however it's not going to be $20bn and it's going to be state by state and it's going to take time'."

'Remains to be seen"

Chris Grove, handling director at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, predicts that 32 states will legalise sports betting in some kind by 2023, creating a market with about $6bn in annual revenue.

But bookmakers deal with a far various landscape in America than they perform in the UK, where betting stores are a regular sight.

US laws minimal gambling largely to Native American lands and Nevada's Las Vegas strip till fairly recently.

In the popular creativity, sports wagering has long been linked to a 1919 baseball World Series match-fixing scandal.

States have actually also been slow to legalise many kinds of online gambling, in spite of a 2011 Justice Department opinion that appeared to eliminate challenges.

While sports betting wagering is generally viewed in its own category, "it clearly remains to be seen whether it gets the type of momentum people think it will," stated Keith Miller, law teacher at Drake University and co-author of a book about sports betting wagering policy.

David Carruthers is the former primary executive of BetonSports, who was apprehended in the US in 2006 for running an offshore online sportsbook and served prison time.

Now a specialist, he states UK companies should approach the marketplace thoroughly, choosing partners with care and avoiding missteps that might cause regulator backlash.

"This is a chance for the American sports bettor ... I'm uncertain whether it is a chance for business," he states. "It truly is reliant on the result of [state] legislation and how business operators pursue the opportunity."

'It will be collaborations'

As legalisation begins, sports betting wagering companies are lobbying to fend off high tax rates, as well as demands by US sports betting leagues, which desire to collect a portion of profits as an "integrity cost".

International business face the added challenge of a powerful existing gaming industry, with gambling establishment operators, state-run lotteries and Native American tribes that are seeking to safeguard their grass.

Analysts say UK companies will need to strike collaborations, offering their competence and innovation in order to make inroads.

They indicate SBTech's current announcement that it is providing technology for Kentucky Derby operator Churchill Downs as an example of the sort of deals likely to materialise.

"It will be a win-win for everybody, however it will be partnerships and it will be driven by technology," Mr Hawkley stated.

'It will just depend'

Joe Asher, primary executive at William Hill US, is clear-eyed about the realities.

The business has actually been investing in the US market considering that 2011, when it acquired three US companies to develop an existence in Nevada.

William Hill now employs about 450 people in the US and has revealed collaborations with gambling establishments in Iowa and New Jersey.

It works as threat manager for the Delaware Lottery and has invested millions along with a regional designer in a New Jersey horse racing track.

Mr Asher stated William Hill has actually become a home name in Nevada however that's not necessarily the goal all over.

"We definitely plan to have an extremely considerable brand name presence in New Jersey," he stated. "In other states, it will simply depend on regulation and possibly who our regional partner is."

"The US is going to be the biggest sports betting wagering market on the planet," he added. "Obviously that's not going to take place on the first day."