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

From Tuesday, new rules on betting came into effect in Delaware, a small east coast state about 2 hours from Washington.

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

The modifications are the first in what might become a wave of legalisation after the Supreme Court last month cleared the method for states to allow sports betting.

The market sees a "as soon as in a generation" opportunity to develop a new market in sports-mad America, said Dublin-based monetary expert David Jennings, who heads leisure research at Davy.

For UK firms, which are facing consolidation, increased online competitors and tougher guidelines from UK regulators, the timing is especially opportune.

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But the industry states depending on the US stays a risky bet, as UK business face complex state-by-state regulation and competition from entrenched regional interests.

"It's something that we're actually concentrating on, but similarly we don't wish to overhype it," said James Midmer, spokesman at Paddy Power Betfair, which recently bought the US dream sports betting site FanDuel.

'Take time'

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

Firms are hoping to take advantage of more of that activity after last month's decision, which overruled a 1992 federal law that barred states outside of Nevada and a few others from authorising sports wagering.

The judgment discovered the law was an over-reach of federal power. But the court it did not actually legalise sports betting wagering, leaving that question to local legislators.

That is anticipated to result in considerable variation in how firms get licensed, where sports wagering can take place, and which occasions are open to speculation - with big ramifications for the size of the marketplace.

Potential profits varieties from $4.2 bn to nearly $20bn every year depending on factors like the number of states transfer to legalise, Oxford Economics estimated in a 2017 study for the American Gaming Association.

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

Now, he said: "I think most people ... are taking a look at this as, 'it's an opportunity but it's not going to be $20bn and it's going to be state by state and it's going to take some time'."

'Remains to be seen"

Chris Grove, managing director at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, forecasts that 32 states will legalise sports wagering in some type by 2023, creating a market with about $6bn in annual profits.

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

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

In the popular imagination, sports betting wagering has actually long been connected to a 1919 baseball World Series match-fixing scandal.

States have also been sluggish to legalise many forms of online gambling, in spite of a 2011 Justice Department viewpoint that appeared to remove challenges.

While sports betting is normally viewed in its own classification, "it clearly remains to be seen whether it gets the kind of momentum individuals believe it will," said Keith Miller, law teacher at Drake University and co-author of a book about sports betting policy.

David Carruthers is the former president of BetonSports, who was jailed in the US in 2006 for running an overseas online sportsbook and served jail time.

Now a specialist, he states UK firms need to approach the market thoroughly, picking partners with care and avoiding missteps that might lead to regulator backlash.

"This is a chance for the American sports betting gambler ... I'm uncertain whether it is an opportunity for company," he says. "It truly is dependent on the outcome of [state] legislation and how the company operators pursue the chance."

'It will be collaborations'

As legalisation starts, sports betting firms are lobbying to ward off high tax rates, along with demands by US sports betting leagues, which desire to collect a percentage of income as an "stability cost".

International business face the included challenge of a powerful existing video gaming industry, with casino operators, state-run lottery games and Native American tribes that are looking for to defend their grass.

Analysts say UK companies will need to strike collaborations, providing 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 most likely to materialise.

"It will be a win-win for everyone, but it will be collaborations and it will be driven by innovation," Mr Hawkley stated.

'It will just depend'

Joe Asher, chief executive at William Hill US, is clear-eyed about the truths.

The company has been purchasing the US market considering that 2011, when it bought 3 US companies to establish an existence in Nevada.

William Hill now uses about 450 people in the US and has actually announced collaborations with gambling establishments in Iowa and New Jersey.

It works as risk manager for the Delaware Lottery and has invested millions alongside a local developer in a New Jersey horse racing track.

Mr Asher said William Hill has become a household name in Nevada however that's not always the objective everywhere.

"We certainly intend to have a really substantial brand existence in New Jersey," he stated. "In other states, it will just depend upon regulation and potentially who our local partner is."

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