In 2018, the first US states outside Nevada started legalising sports betting, paving the way for a brave new world for the sector.

Sports betting is already lucrative big business in the UK and has been for years, but in the US it looks like becoming a similarly popular pursuit – and one that will generate vast sums of money.

What’s coming now, though, is a culture springing up around the slackening of the law. For many people the draw of betting on sport is the same as the draw of chatting about it with their friends, to predict results or to chat about how the season is going to pan out. Essentially, to show off their knowledge about the game they’re betting on.

That culture is already finding an expression as national broadcaster NBC Sports has launched a gambling radio show, which will run from 3-7pm ET daily to engage with the section of their audience that’s interested in betting on sport or following it in that way.

Tim Murray, co-host of the show spoke about the sort of content that the show will offer, “If we hear [Oregon quarterback] Justin Herbert is coming back to play his senior year, what does that do to [Ohio State quarterback] Dwayne Haskins’s chance to be the No. 1 pick or other quarterbacks’ chances to get drafted in the first round? Wherever we can find a line or odds, that’s a segment.”

Running four four hours in the afternoon and early evening every day, NBC clearly think this is an important section of the market to explore anad 2019 is likely to see more states legalise gambling, leading to further access to sports betting across the country.

In the last few years, daily fantasy sports companies like DraftKings have grown that sector into a huge market, and it will be interesting to see how the US’s law changes might have an impact on established businesses in Europe and further afield. And as a betting culture emerges to go alongside the apparition of the industry itself it looks like it’s going to grow very quickly indeed.