We are now a fraction over two months out from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), and with it bringing about an almighty race right across the US, as numerous states scramble for the all important sports betting introduction.

Delaware became the first to cross the finish line following the years long multi-million dollar New Jersey fronted legal battle, with The Garden State having to settle for second place.

Numerous multifaceted agreements have since been reached, as a seemingly endless number of organisation seek to steal on march on their counterparts.

“The Resorts deal was a milestone event for SBTech”

Sports betting solutions provider SBTech are one such example, completing a number of crucial deals as the firm seeks to firmly embed itself within the market.

A deal alongside New Jersey’s recently opened Resorts Casino Hotel followed a first deal in conjunction with Churchill Downs Inc, and Richard Carter, SBTech CEO, has been explaining to SBC Americas just how crucial this duo of agreements are: “The Resorts deal was a milestone event for SBTech. In the Churchill Downs partnership SBTech is providing our igaming platform and our sportsbook solution.

“However, the Resorts deal will be the first deal in New Jersey for SBTech where we will be integrated into an existing igaming platform via our seamless sportsbook and retail solution.

“This demonstrates SBTech’s flexibility to deploy our cutting-edge tools and products into the current US igaming space for any license holder who wants to offer their customers a state of the art sportsbook.”

One potential tricky situation for those currently, or planning to, make moves within the US is the state-by-state nature of regulations, each potentially coming with their own unique aspects.

“Our experience in the regulated sector is unmatched”

With legislative activity believed to be underway in one form or another in as many as 25+ states, how do you best prepare to act upon fresh regulations as companies seek to further embed their footprint in the US: “One of SBTech’s unique selling points is our speed to market. We pride ourselves on our ability to rapidly enter newly regulated markets like the USA.

“Our experience in the regulated sector is unmatched and we take these learnings into each new jurisdiction. Having previously operated in 15 regulated markets there is not much that we have not seen at this point.

“We are confident that we will be a leader in the USA and we are making a large investment in resources to appropriately scale our business to service the largest operators.”  

Many European based/focused entities have been quick in reacting over the last two months, but US consumers present a different animal altogether.

Carter goes on to address what key differences punters in this market will demand from a sportsbook, as opposed to what works elsewhere: “We expect the US consumers to be very demanding from a product standpoint. One thing is clear, mobile and in-play are must haves for the USA. We have purposely architected our products to meet the challenges of the emerging USA market by doing extensive research into the US user experience.

We are confident that we will be a leader in the USA”

“We have high hopes that products like our patent pending “Pulse Betting” will forever change the way US bettors look at sports betting.”

One thing is for certain, despite the rush of some states to get sports betting legislation passed and operations up and running, it certainly won’t be a quick fix and some attention has to be firmly fixed on the bigger picture and the long term.

Something Carter concluded with, when discussing which states he envisages becoming the largest and most integral, in both the short and long term: “In the short-term NJ will be the most active market based on the number of brands launching.

“Long term states like New York, California and Florida will be massive opportunities if they open. It is important to look at regions as well and in this case, we feel the Midwest also provides significant opportunities in 2019 and 2020.”