Bookmakers closer to launching GPS based in-play horse racing

New technology close to being launched?

Bookmaker News

There was an interesting report recently by the newspaper The Guardian as is suggests that the UK bookmakers are getting ready to roll out some new technology for horse racing. The report said that through GPS technology, bookmakers will be able to roll out real in-play horse racing odds. Apparently, this is an imminent move forward as well with a “leading online bookmaker” getting set to launch it “within weeks”.

Paddy Power and Bet365 do actually offer live in-play racing but that is managed manually, so this would be a huge shift for the entire industry to get everything automated. GPS position will allow the accuracy of a horse’s position on the track to be within around four inches and the information will be relayed back, all importantly, with a minimal time lag of 0.1 seconds or less.

So is this the next new big technology to shake up the world of online betting?

Reports are that this could add an extra 10% of revenue to bookmakers by adding around a billion extra on top of the £5.6 billion that the industry took on horse racing last year. As well as being able to pinpoint horses with amazing accuracy in a race, the application of the technology would also open up a new arena of statistics as well, with heavy post-race data allowing punters to really assess how a horse performed tactically.

Bookmakers will be looking forward to adding a new tool to their arsenal of their betting product lines, but there are some concerns that it could lead to questionability over the integrity of racing and just last year, the CEO of Racing Australia wanted a ban on all in-play betting Down Under because of concerns of opening up doors of opportunity to compromise the integrity of all sports.