William Hill Bets On Virtual Reality Racing

William Hill bets on virtual reality racing

1 October 2015

Anyone who has actually been to a racecourse will understand the excitement when the horses pound towards the goal.

But this promotion code excitement of the trip is something that many clients who bet in shops or online do not experience.

Play Aviator virtual betting crash game on the Bet9ja platform

Bookmaker William Hill is keen to recreate it with virtual reality technology.

The UK's Gambling Commission stated that it would be monitoring innovations such as virtual truth to make sure that they did not encourage excessive betting.

Using virtual truth headsets, combined with GPS racetrack information, it is giving consumers the possibility to see the race from the jockey's point of view.

"Currently you place a bet and not much occurs in between that and the outcome," said Crispin Nieboer, William Hill's director of innovation.

"We wish to bring consumers closer to the sporting action, to experience the thrill of the ride."

To check the possibilities, the group at William Hill labs developed a 3D mock-up of Kempton Park racecourse and gathered live data, via GPS trackers fitted on horses, throughout a training race at the course.

Register at Bet9ja using the promotion code YOHAIG for a N100,000 welcome bonus

Combining the data created a virtual race users can see by means of either Google Cardboard or an Oculus Rift.

The technology is not yet available to the public however was on show at an open day at the company's innovation lab in Shoreditch.

Users initially choose the horse they wish to race on. Accompanied by live commentary, users can turn and look at other horses along with activating a data screen about the horse's heart rate, stride and race position.

William Hill plans to include more courses and live races next year.

"Currently there are some gaps in the information so the horses all of a sudden accelerate in a live race, however we wish to have a proof-of-concept system prepared by Christmas," stated Mr Nieboer.

The plan is to introduce the service as part of the William Hill app.

"Users can pick the option to watch the race as a standard video or they can be the jockey," Mr Nieboer said.

It could likewise be readily available in some betting stores, stated Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were most likely to be offered totally free at racecourses.

It is estimated that in the UK about 350,000 people have a betting addiction, with over ₤ 7bn spent annually.

The proliferation of online betting has actually been blamed for making it simpler to bet and some feel services such as virtual reality might contribute to the issue.

The market is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, which stated that it "screens development in the betting market in order to guarantee operators continue to adhere to the conditions of their licences".

"Operators are required to ensure that they use gambling in a responsible way, which will include offering tools to allow consumers to handle their betting activity in addition to having policies and treatments in place to identify possibly problematic behaviour and interact with consumers who show that behaviour," a spokesman included.