Virtual Horse Racing Betting: What Is It?

Accounting for around 25% of all bets placed on horse racing in the UK, virtual horse racing is one of the most popular sports markets along with virtual football and greyhound racing. It is no wonder, then, that online betting sites keep improving quality to recreate the excitement of betting at a virtual racecourse. But what is virtual horse betting? Here are some of the basics regarding virtual horse races. For more information though, take a look at sites like www.horseracingbetting.co.uk. They will provide you with everything you need to know about virtual horse racing.

Betting on Virtual Horses

With around 60 licensed racecourses in Great Britain today, traditional horse races have been a British tradition for centuries. Virtual horse racing is more recent though, since it was introduced at the beginning of the new millennium. Nevertheless, this new form of betting on horses has grown steadily. It is now one of the most profitable virtual betting markets.

The biggest advantages for punters: There is no need to wait for officials to review the race before settling your bet and the weather has absolutely no influence. So virtual races can take place every day and, depending on the online betting provider, even all day long.

Virtual horse racing was created by bookmakers to increase turnover. In addition, it was made to appeal to bettors who enjoy placing bets on virtual races whenever and wherever they wish to.

So…What is Virtual Racing?

In reality, it is a numbers game since the result of the virtual horse race is determined by a random generator. A computer basically ensures that the “action” takes place accordingly. Punters bet on simulated races and they can do so every few minutes. This is probably what attracts most players since there is virtual horse racing around the clock. The majority of online betting sites offer this option on demand.

Designed to imitate the “real” races as much as possible, virtual horse races include pre-race odds, a variety of betting options and even streaming video with commentary. Of course, the main difference between real and virtual races is the outcome. Virtual races are decided by chance (randomly generated numbers) whereas real races depend on the prowess of the horses.

The Betting ABCs

The basics of betting on virtual horse races are quite simple:

1. Pick a horse
2. Place a bet
3. Wait for the race to finish

Usually, there are three types of bets in virtual horse racing: Win/Place, Forecast, and Tricast. With a Win/Place bet, you can bet on a single horse that will either win, not win, be placed (first, second or third) or not placed. A Forecast bet can either be “straight” or “dual”. So you either choose the horses that will come first and second in that specific order (straight) or in any of those first two positions (dual). Finally, a Tricast bet means that you predict the horses in the first three places, again either “straight” (exact outcome) or “dual” (regardless of order).

Modern Technology Makes it Possible

The idea behind virtual horse races is to bet on the outcome of a sporting event with computer-generated visuals. In this particular case, the animals’ movements are used to produce the images and the numbers come from real statistics.

Please bear in mind that betting on virtual horse races is completely random. Even though what you see on the screen may feel like real (physical) races, the technology is similar to the one used for slots, roulette or any other gambling game: Using a random number generator.

Thanks to advances in modern technology, graphics have improved tremendously over the last few years. Thus a lifelike experience is created for punters, including the excitement of a “live” commentator as the virtual horses race down the track.