What is Virtual betting?
In virtual betting, punters can place stakes on games that have been generated by a computer. The result of the virtual sports event, for example, a horse race, is randomly generated. They are accompanied by a graphical representation of what that event would like.
Just for example in virtual football betting, you will see the key moments of a game such as near-misses, goals, corners and bad fouls. It’s just like sitting there watching a short video game, only you can bet on the outcome.
You are not going to see an entire virtual football match play out over 90 minutes. The matches often only last a few minutes total and then there is a short break before the next virtual match comes along.
What Virtual Sports are there to bet on?
The most common virtual sports that punters can find are football and horse racing. For horse racing, you can do things like forecasts and tricasts. For a virtual football match, you can pick a correct score option, over/under and so on.
Other sports you can find include speedway, greyhounds and motor racing. There are different options available within the sports. An example of that is picking between Flat racing and National Hunt racing.
How Virtual Betting works
You bet as normal as you would do on a real event. If you were to look at a virtual horse race, you would see the market priced up as normal as on a real horse race. The two look the same and operate the same.
In some instances, those virtual prices will actually fluctuate which gives the player the question of when is the right time to back a selection?
But at the very core of it all, it is very simple, straight forward betting. There are, however, some important things to consider.
What are some Pros of Virtual betting?
It doesn’t matter what time of day or night that you visit a Virtual Sports section at a bookmaker, you are going to find action happening. It’s not like waiting for the weekend fixture list to come around, or the midweek matches.
Virtual sports betting is always on and available.
Another appeal of the virtual sports betting is a quick turnaround in markets. As mentioned above if you place a bet on a team to win a virtual match, you are only going to be waiting a couple of minutes to find out the result. Virtual sports just continuously run so it is accessible at any time.
There is no learning curve with virtual betting. It may take you a while to find the right markets and types of bets for yourself in real life betting. Not so much in Virtual Betting. You don’t have to run off and study stats and worry about bookmaker margins. So it’s extremely simplified.
You may just find Virtual Betting a quick click and play type of activity, just simply picking outrights. Truthfully it doesn’t lend itself to much more than that.
What are some Cons of virtual betting?
Because virtual betting results are all randomly generated that does take away skill. A punter on a real football match will try and use statistics and judgement of the market to try and create a value bet.
A value bet is where a punter thinks that the bookmaker has underestimated a particular outcome, say an underdog winning. It is impossible to spot any kind of edge in virtual betting.
So that means that the virtual sports become a game of luck. If you consider that, then it’s not really any different from having a spin on a casino reel or having or playing roulette.
It’s all down to chance because the skill has all been removed.
Another disadvantage of virtual betting is that the markets are limited. If you look at a real-life football match to bet on, you are going to find an overwhelming amount of betting options. There is so much choice, but that same degree of choice isn’t there on virtual betting.
So there isn’t the nuanced, fine-tuned type of betting on virtuals as there is on real sports betting.
The quick turnover in events. Yes, we touched on that as a pro too. It can be a double-edged sword. Because of the quick turnaround of events, it is perhaps a little more difficult to pull away from virtual sports betting.
That is because of the frequency of new events and the rapid turnover in bets.
It can get quite involved when can play a rapid bet after rapid bet, so bankroll has to be managed and you have to know when to walk away.
It’s important to remember that everything is randomly generated. Don’t let the gambler’s fallacy take over. If you hit a losing streak, it doesn’t increase your chances of picking a winner in the next race. One thing has nothing to do with another
A little math
Virtual betting does encompass a fair amount of high risk. If you think of a casino game where a slot match is running at about 90% RTP (Return To Player). For every 100 bets of 1 unit stake played you would expect to get 90 back.
But the important thing to remember is that the RTP is not calculated on just your play. It’s calculated over a long term and so it doesn’t mean that you can really expect 90% of your input back.
Over a certain period, the machine would return 90% of what is put in back to players in one way or another. The house keeps the other portion.
Virtual sports runs between 80% and 95% on average and that RTP can shift depending on the number of horses in a virtual race (the fewer runners the lower the RTP). Again, the important thing to remember is that you are at the mercy of whatever the computer is running, not relying on your own skill.
Virtual Betting in Summary
Virtual sports betting does offer the punter something a little different. Can you realistically expect a great deal of return from them?
Probably not because you would need a reasonable lucky streak to pull that off. The reason boils down to the example that on a virtual football match you have no way to gauge the value of an under/over 2.5 goal market.
In betting on real-life events, you can. You do also get a lot of breathing space between real events, such as a good half hour between races at the same meeting. That’s a lot of difference to only having a panicked couple of minutes to get your bet down on the next virtual race.
Recommended Virtual Sports Betting Sites
There is a good range of virtual sports available at Betfair from the horses to greyhounds and both club and international football.
Unibet has a new virtual sports section launched and they have options like tennis, basketball and plenty of horse racing available. They have a very good range of bets available on it as well.
Paddy Power is another with a good virtual sports betting service for customers. There is plenty of racing on there as you would expect, with a new race starting every two minutes. Virtual Football is well covered and you can find other options like motorsports too.
Bet365 delivers a virtual betting sport as well. There are the likes of the speedway, cycling, motor racing, tennis and the common staples of football and racing.
There is a big Virtual World at bookmaker Betfred who do apply promotions to virtual sports. Players will find a lot of variety there, from darts and bingo included as well.
