Virtual Sports betting myths and realities

Virtual Sports have been very popular for more than a decade. Their 24/7 availability and ever-evolving technology, among other characteristics, are elements that constantly attract and engage gamblers.

When companies and players want to learn more about Virtual Sports, the vast majority of them recur to the internet, as usual, as a fast source of information. From the abundant number of articles we can find online, it is important to discern which ones are closer to the truth.

This article pretends to be a guide to help you differentiate myth from reality when doing research about Virtual Sports.

The truth about Virtual Sports betting

The majority of the information found online focuses on the origin of Virtual Sports, their success and how they work.

The term Virtual Sports is used to describe software simulations of sports used for betting purposes.

This statement is accurate. There is a reason why Virtual Sports are presented in gambling websites next to the sportsbook section: they have similar gameplay and attract similar types of players. This is especially true for the products designed by Golden Race. As we like to say: they are like just sports betting but with a virtual outcome.

Golden Race’s platform generates all the odds using a set of real data provided by professional bookmakers, offering a complete set of odds that are as realistic as possible.

Regarding the games’ simulations, we focus on using the latest technology to develop the most realistic events. For example, on the latest version of our virtual football, we have applied state-of-the-art motion capture technologies scanning real team moves from professional players, real stadium footage, real sports camera angles, and a set of incredible visual and sound FX, among others.

The first virtual sport was a baseball simulation game created by IBM engineer John Burgeson in 1961.

John Burgeson’s simulation game, created in 1961, was the first simulation in which people could bet. Although he is also considered the father of video games, his baseball simulation was based on statistical probabilities for each batter and pitcher, and that’s why his game is the first one known as a virtual sport.

He discovered that thanks to a qualitative analysis with multiple variables made on his computer, he could analyse baseball players’ merits and determine who would win a game. Using objective parameters such as battle averages and percentages, among others, John was able to make a comparative performance test.

Virtual Sports betting has become an important part of every bookmaker’s sports betting offer.

From our experience, we can say that this is absolutely true. Also, there are many graphics and references to the importance that Virtual Sports have for bookmakers’ betting offer, and this is not something new but as old as our company and more. It has always been like this.

In fact, back in 2004, German bookmakers already used Virtual Sports to get additional traffic to sportsbooks in the betting shops. And when sports betting was down because of high payouts in the betting markets, then at least with Virtual Sports they covered their losses and they could pay employees, electricity, the rent and all the other things to survive and continue. Nowadays, there are even more reasons to have Virtual Sports.

Virtual Sports is a selection of scheduled fixed odds games.

This statement is not completely true. Virtual games can be offered under a schedule or in an instant mode. In fact, there is more and more demand for instant play, where each player decides when to start the game, right after placing the bets. The instant format is really growing, in particular on mobile applications.

That is why all our games are presented both in a scheduled and instant mode, so players can bet whenever they want without having to wait for the event to start. This feature is very appealing for them.

All of the instant games include a ‘skip’ feature that allows players to move instantly between the different phases of the games without having to place a bet, or avoid watching a video after placing the bet and move directly to results.

Also our instant Virtual Sports platform has elements that are completely unique in the market, such as in-play betting and cash-out options.

You can bet twenty-four hours a day, which gives punters an endless source of gambling opportunities.

The main advantage of Virtual Sports. You can play 24/7.

In Italy, for example, Golden Race virtual Serie A makes more tickets than the real Serie A. Why could that be? Because people can pick their favourite team and play all day long, and not only once or twice a week. They have a lot more frequency for these teams to play.

The myths of Virtual Sports

The Internet also contains some articles that mention some disadvantages of Virtual Sports, that maybe are holding some of you from starting considering Virtual Sports on your sportsbooks.

The problem is that almost all of them are not true, at least when talking about Golden Race’s Virtual Sports.

It is purely virtual which means there are no factors to analyse, which takes from the thrill associated with sports betting.

This may be right for most of the virtual companies, as still the vast majority of virtual providers develop their games like slot machines: they show some statistics, some odds, but in the end if you just play blind and press the button the chance for you will be the same to win.

One of the key factors of GoldenRace is that we are always doing things in a different way.

We are the first innovative company that said “we want to be like a sportsbook”. This means that the statistics have to have a reason, the odds have to be built on the statistics and the RNG that decides the outcome has to be connected with the variations of the sport before so that it makes sense to play. And this is what we do.

The outcomes from each match or event are generated by a computer algorithm that picks the winner in a non-bias way.

While this could be true for many companies in the market, Golden Race’s Virtual Sports platform has a “biased” way on its system, as it tries to connect the RNG with all the possibilities and odds probabilities, which are made as realistic as possible for a team of real bookmakers.

Fantasy sports are the reason for the existence of Virtual Sports.

This is absolutely not true. First of all, fantasy sports only work in the US, where Virtual Sports are still very new.

Also, there are several differences between both products, from the teams (in Virtual Sports you have a virtual team made of a prototype of actual players, while in fantasy sports you can create your own team with your favourite players no matter where they play in real life) to the outcomes, as in Virtual Sports you don’t need to analyse actual statistics and real players performance or have any kind of prior knowledge like in fantasy sports.

NOTE: This article is based on some of Martin Wachter’s recent presentations. Martin is Golden Race’s CEO and Founder and has more than 20 years of experience in the betting industry, especially in Virtual Sports.