Virtual Sports betting – all you need to know

Most leading online sports betting sites such as Bet365, Betfair, William Hill, and Ladbrokes always remain on the lookout for new ways to provide their members with additional entertainment opportunities. Due to the continued increase in demand, they not only incorporate this exciting new betting opportunity into their sportsbook but respond with a huge increase in the range of betting markets and opportunities on offer.

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Introduction to virtual sports

Virtual sports events come courtesy of dedicated software responsible for generating and controlling gameplay during each event. Also, the software employs a specialised algorithm called a random number generator (RNG). This is akin to those used in slots and other forms of casino games that ultimately ensure gameplay delivers event outcomes in a completely fair, unbiased, and random fashion. Punters then gamble on the randomly determined outcomes of these virtual events.

Much of its popularity stems from the inherent ability of the simulator to allow players to create their own fantasy sports teams. Moreover, due to its virtual nature, punters have the opportunity to place wagers based on their predictions covering a nearly endless range and several computer-generated leagues and matches any time of the day or night.

What is a Virtual Sports Game?

Virtual sports games incorporate the names and player statistics of actual sports stars, actual teams, and players appearing on the pitch in each team’s real team colours, with games played in photorealistic copies of their true-life namesake event stadiums. Essentially real-life sporting events inspire the action delivered by their virtual counterparts!

In each type of sport, the action closely mimics that of its real-life counterpart. Moreover, virtual sports employ highly advanced audio and graphics rendering engines to deliver ultra-realistic 3D visuals, which provide an almost real feel to the on-pitch action.

For example, football’s on-field gaming action maintains all aspects of its real-life counterpart, players remain in their designated player positions, mirroring the movements and functions of each position according to the sport’s strategies, rules, and regulations. This includes goalkeepers attempting to save incoming strikes from passing them into the goal box, referees blowing-up transgressions such as off-sides, flashing the occasional yellow card, and awarding a penalty when due, linesmen marking the spot where a ball went out-of-bounds, etc. Players suffer injuries, the virtual crowds in attendance chant actual popular sports club themed songs with songs matched to the venue and teams in attendance.

Origins of Virtual Sports

John Burgeson wrote the first program for virtual sports, coding his creation for an IBM 1620 computer using just 20 KB RAM. The year was 1961, and the game was fantasy baseball. John’s first program, similar to modern versions of the simulator, also employed an RNG to determine a randomly fair outcome of a game played between two teams using entirely self-contained software.

Over the decades, its distributed programming increased in complexity and sophistication to finally deliver the highly-refined product we see incorporated into the current sportsbooks offered by modern online bookmakers. In its current format, the virtual sports betting product transcends the quality and experience delivered by its originating forebears by several powers of magnitude.

What Types of Virtual Sports Does Bookmakers Offer Online?

• Virtual Football: Require punters to predict and place winning wagers according to their predicted outcome on a computer-generated virtual match. Similar to real sports, online bookmakers offer competitive odds on each game. Games incorporate player names, teams, sports complexes, leagues, FC clubs, events, contests, tournaments, competitions, and championships mirroring those of their real-life namesakes.
• Virtual Tennis: Offer punters an opportunity to wager on their favourite virtual tennis stars who each possess lifelike attributes and statistics closely matching those of their actual namesakes. Competitions and event tournaments occur in tennis stadiums virtually identical to those seen in dozens of contests televised daily.
• Virtual Horse Racing: In likeness to its actual counterpart, it features a racing variety covering numerous races inspired by actual local and international events containing horses, riders, event and competitor statistics, markets, and betting options similar to those of its originating equine hosts.
• Virtual Basketball: Provide enthusiasts of the sport with an opportunity to engage in wagering on the outcome of a nearly endless range of virtual games, all containing namesakes and likenesses of their actual towering real athletes. Betting markets and options offer punters enthusiastic about the great game to wager 24/7/365 on the virtual performances of their favourite sports stars and teams.
• Virtual Greyhounds: Deliver a highly comparable racing experience to that offered by the slinky, high-speed mutts in an actual flats race. With virtual dogs bearing the same names as punters would find at the track daily. The available betting options, despite remaining fairly restrictive, still offer the same excitement in races that retain the same dynamic nature as those offered by the real thing.
• Moto and Car Racing: Features names, teams, and team colours identical to the ones found on tracks and racecourses around the world. It covers F1, WRC, and sprint races, with cars driven by the namesakes of those heroes that regularly provide the excitement racing fans from across the world, have come to expect.
• Badminton: Places punters courtside while additionally offering an opportunity to place a wager on the individual performance any of the internationally fancied stars any time they desire. This negates the prerequisite of having to wait for an actual match to take place. This naturally allows punters to engage in wagering on a far more frequent basis.
• Table Tennis: Allow punters to place an increased number of wagers on the outcome of many of the virtually generated games populated by likenesses of real players and their career statistics, including near-identical virtualised imagery of places such as Wimbledon with its strawberries and scones crowds.
• Velodrome: Aimed at attracting punters who are cyclists at heart, the virtual high-speed cycling action offers true to form computer-generated imagery of the Olympians in action. The visual and auditory trackside surroundings that regularly practice one of the world’s toughest sports formats. Virtual races deliver a comprehensive cross-section of the markets and betting options punters would expect to find at any real-life cycling event.
• Archery: Focuses on a sport featuring one of the oldest competitive sports still widely in practice today. It rewards fans who are admirers of masterful bowmen with an attractive outlet for their betting requirements. The virtualised competitions allow punters to spectate and place bets on a wide range of betting options and markets with true to life likenesses of the actual artists actively in pitched battle. Punters are enticed to compete to display their superiority and range skills during each event around the virtual world.
• Trotting: Begs discerning punters to spectate and place a wager on one of the equestrian competitive world’s most stylish events. This is filled with the equestrian and rider names regularly seen at circuits from around the real world. With points similarly awarded for style and horse & rider combined attitude as well as horsemanship. Virtual competition now offers punters an opportunity to wager on many of their equine stars in many competitions worldwide.

Virtual Sports features

Major producers of virtual sports products offer a complete range of individual competitor statistics alongside team statistics and individual team member statistics for group sporting types. Similar to other computer-generated gambling varieties such as slots or online roulette, virtual sports determine event outcomes via an RNG. This ensures complete fairness of event results through complete randomness.

Virtual Sports advantages and disadvantages

As with any gambling comparison between similar gambling activities such as online blackjack versus Live Dealer blackjack, virtual sports feature several significant similarities as well as some major differences. Each comes with a specific set of advantages along with some disadvantages as listed below.

In contrast to the wide variety of betting options available to punters when engaging in betting on real sports, virtual sports betting options currently remain more limited. Virtual football fails to offer a betting option such as the firm First or Last Goal Scorer football favourite, followed by a similar shortage of a Set Betting option in tennis.

Real Sports vs. Virtual Sports

As one would anticipate, there are differences between real sports and virtual sports. One of the main differences, from an entertainment perspective, is their constant availability, and that relates to the virtual side. Virtual sports are creations, or recreations of sporting events in a real atmosphere and, as a new type of entertainment, have surged in popularity.

It is important to understand that in Real sports events, that they are regulated by the leagues they are part of and by officials or referees to ensure rules of the game are followed, both by players and coaches. In virtual sports, regulation is carried out by licensing authorities that govern how the games are operated, the validity of the software, and, most importantly, the random number generating software that produces results.

Another key difference between real sports and virtual sports is real sports have more markets, betting options, and the ability to place bets based on real statistics. Punters also can rely on tips and past performance knowledge to help decide how best to bet. However, in virtual sports, this is not viable as statistics are created. Therefore, it is similar to playing other electronic games of chance, and that aspect leads to another difference, that being the social aspect of sports.

Virtual sports are not able to provide punters with social interaction with other punters or truly recreate the atmosphere of watching or attending a live sports event. Most engaging in virtual sports understand that when doing so, they are playing in an environment that is not lifelike, and accept this. However, those new to virtual sports should understand that within those differences, there is a cost associated with playing virtual sports, and from an entertainment perspective, if governed responsibly, is equal to the cost of purchasing tickets to a live sports event.

Available betting options and markets

The available betting markets in virtual sports are increasing as its popularity continues growth. Traditionally, most bookmakers offer a limited number of markets, including football, basketball, horses, and dogs. However, the inclusion of tennis and the future inclusion of cricket and baseball has seen new betting options become available. Below, we look at each of those and highlight the different betting options each provides:

• Football: Football is one of the most popular in virtual sports, not only for that fact that its fan base is substantial but also for the ease in placing easy to understand bets. These include fulltime, halftime, handicap and total goals. Fulltime bets are based on the end result, whereas halftime bets are based on the score at the halftime point. Handicap bets are on the participating teams/players perceived differences and total goals is rather self-explanatory and based on the total goals scored.
• Basketball: Basketball is a little more extensive in its available betting markets. It often includes options for the winner, total points, winning margin, handicap, Race to X and team total. However, its difference extends beyond this as within each. There are different betting options such as match winner, 1st half winner, highest scoring quarter and over/under.
• Horses: Horse racing is another that ranks high in popularity and has a global appeal versus some sports that may be more local. In virtual horse racing, the betting options are similar to that one would have available in a real horse race such as win, place, forecast and tricast.
• Dogs: Virtual dog races are almost identical to horse racing, in so far as it’s betting options and therefore makes betting less complicated than others like basketball. Those offered include win, place, forecast and tricast.
• Tennis: In tennis, the betting options are limited to game, set, match and favourites. These again are easy to understand with bets on favourites being placed on individual players, game bets on individual games within a set, match bet on who will win the match, and set bets on which player will win any given set.

Live betting on Virtual Sports – is it available?

Live betting, in the traditional form as one would experience with in-play betting. Virtual games are constantly running, and depending on the virtual sport of interest, games/matches/events can take place in minutes. Therefore placing live bets is, for the most part, possible due to the length of most virtual sporting events. However, several do feature virtual in-play sports, although this is limited.

Virtual sports bonuses – are there any promo codes?

This is solely dependent on the individual sportsbook. However, due to the increasing demand, multiple sportsbooks have begun to release virtual sports bonuses to satisfy the expectations of punters interesting in this realm of betting. The majority will not require a specific bonus code often instead of requiring opting to qualify for any bonus being offered. Those interested in claiming should understand that most, if not all, will be limited to an amount equal to standard new player registration bonuses. However, some will include, as an incentive, a virtual sport free bet.

Virtual Sports betting providers

Multiple sports betting providers cater to virtual sports games, and that number is growing. However, there are four that stand out. And that is based on the platforms they have engineered and the type of virtual sports offered.

What is the house edge in virtual sports?

Virtual sports operate in the same manner as other games of chance. The main difference is they are focused on sports versus traditional casino games. The results for any virtual sports game/race/match are generated through the use of a random number generating software program and, as such, will always, over time, favour the house. While each event/race/game will show statistics, calculation of your odds is dependent on how many are participating overall. However, with the inclusion of a handicapping system used to make the experience realistic, it gives punters and the casino a balanced outcome. At times this will favour the casino, while at others, it will favour the punter just as it will with other games of chance.

Mobile betting platform of Virtual Sports

The availability of virtual sports for mobile users is common, with many of the largest sportsbooks offering mobile virtual betting. This is due to many sportsbooks using mobile browser-based access that is equal to its desktop experience. That ensures all betting markets are features that can be accessed by those that wish to or prefer to play directly through their mobile device. That advantage to this is it ensures all virtual gaming categories punters are accustomed to are identical, which also relates to the quality and performance.

Is it legal to bet on Virtual Sports?

The legality of virtual betting, from an individual standpoint, relates to the country of residence. While some will allow sports betting, others may exclude virtual betting and other games of chance. In this case, determining the legality is dependent on the laws that govern the country and jurisdiction you reside in. Online bookmakers go to great lengths to ensure compliance with laws that govern each country they operate within and, as such, receive special licenses that permit virtual sports betting. When coupled with today’s geographical identification software, it is safe to suggest that is virtual sports betting is allowed under your account. Then it is most likely legal for you to participate. However, it is always recommended that you verify its legality before making a real money wager.

Who guarantees the fairness in Virtual Sports Betting?

This falls under the responsibilities of the special auditors and licensing commissions that issue licenses. They are responsible for checking and verifying the true randomness of the random number generators employed by the sportsbook to ensure fairness for punters participating in virtual sports betting activities.

Tips for betting on Virtual sports

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Conclusion

Virtual sports betting, for many, is still a relative unknown. However, as it becomes more widely available with sportsbooks and bookmakers, it is gaining popularity, and the added peace of mind that licensing authorities regulation has helped fuel interest. This comes not only as a result of punters but by bookmakers as well as it gives them an extension towards the markets they provide to punters. Its continued success will rely heavily on growth, not only in traffic but in the range of sports that become available. When one considers the global sports betting market and overall interest, this will be key in the long-term.