Virtual Horse Racing: Is This The Future Of The Sport?
Bogdan LashchenkoHorse Racing went through a lot of changes in history, to become one of the most popular sports to bet on. Even though horse racing dates back thousands of years, the sport back then was nothing like we are used to seeing nowadays.
With all the technological advancements, horse racing became more available to the public and thanks to the online betting industry now you can place wagers without actually going to a horse racing event.
But as technology advances, we are witnessing major changes in the sports betting industry. The most important change that might have a huge impact on the industry is the introduction of Virtual Sports.
Virtual Sports are computer-generated games that are made very similar to real-world sports. The best thing is that you can actually bet on these sports even though they are not played in real life.
Virtual Sports are designed to sort out a few problems. The biggest one is that there is nothing to bet on when no real-life events are happening. With that said, let’s highlight some of the most important things that this new industry will bring to the table and see how will affect horse racing in general.
What is Virtual Horse Race and How Does it Work?
As we mentioned before, virtual horse racing is a computer-controlled software that runs constant simulations that are an exact replica of real-life horse races. Thanks to the ultra-realistic graphics nowadays, virtual sports are almost identical to watching a real-world event on your TV.
Virtual Horse Races now have live commentary, race statistics, and many betting options to choose from.
Virtual Horse Races are based on RNG (Random Number Generator) which is like online slots use nowadays. Basically, the algorithm ensures that each result is based on the probabilities and stats set for each virtual participant, but completely randomized, meaning that there are no two races ever to be the same.
Unlike real-world horse racing events, Virtual Horse racing is a fast-paced betting system that usually finishes in several minutes. After each race, the software adds a break that lasts from 3-6 minutes and this break can be used to browse through the data and find out a horse that has the potential to win the next game.
Benefits of Virtual Horse Races
There are a few major benefits that come with virtual horse races, that might have a big impact on the popularity of this industry.
Constant Action
Since horse racing isn’t one of the most popular sports in the world, there are several big horse racing events scattered throughout the year. This means that if you want to bet on such events, you usually have to wait months before you can place bets.
With virtual horse racing, you can do that in minutes since the games are available 24/7. This means that you can bet on horse racing whenever you feel like it.
No Injuries or Tiredness
Since the participants in virtual horse races are computer-generated game elements, horses cannot suffer from injuries or tiredness.
Some people can also consider this as a disadvantage since it removes one of the most important elements dictating the pace of a horse in a race. So you don’t need to be so invested in knowing which are the fastest horse breeds and what is the form of the horse prior to an event.
With that said, we can also expect games that involve more real-live horse game mechanics where participants can run into the same problems as in real life.
Costs For Running a Race
In order to organize a horse race nowadays, you’ll need a lot of money. However, virtual horse races minimize this cost to a minimum as the only thing you need to do is run computer software.
Downsides of Virtual Horse Races
Since we are talking about a relatively new industry, it is common to find some drawbacks and negative sides. The biggest downside is that no matter how good the software is, the races are not real and cannot offer the same degree of excitement as watching the Kentucky Derby live on TV.
The other downside of virtual horse races is the lack of predictability. With real-life horse races, you can check out the pace of a horse in previous races, its connection with the jockey, and other important elements that might suggest that the horse will win the race, but with virtual horse racing there are much fewer options to predict, and at the end of the day, the outcome is randomized
Conclusion
Virtual horse racing is a revolutionary segment that will have a huge impact on the market. However, it is very unlikely that it will extinct real-world horse racing. Most people still prefer the real-world action, and it will take years of perfecting virtual horse racing in order to come close to its real-world counterpart.
It is also not strange to see a universe where both horse racing methods coexist at the same time, which is the most likely outcome for the future of the sport.
Bogdan Lashchenko – content manager at EgamersWorld.Bogdan has been working at EGamersWorld since 2023. Joining the company, he began fillin the site with information, news and events.