At 3pm, Speaker of the House, Nicholas Mattiello, Senate President, Dominic Ruggerio, and Executive Chairman of Twin River Worldwide Holdings, John E.Taylor Jr, will place the first bets.

Rhode Island will be the seventh US state to have regulated sports betting.

Pennsylvania became the sixth, with its first sports wagering facility going live at Hollywood Casino at the Penn National Race Course. A casino in New Mexico has started offering sports betting but it has not officially been legalised in the state.

It has been a long process to bring sports betting to Rhode Island, however, with the state enacting legislation in June with expectations of an Autumn launch.

Delays had pushed back the October start date and officials then planned for an opening in time for Thanksgiving.

They missed this deadline, though, and the overall delay has reportedly forced the state to miss out on $12m in expected revenue.