Sports betting has long been a mainstay of traditional operators as well as web-based operators. So, it should come as no surprise that virtual sports have also taken the industry by storm. As web technology has improved the quality and variety of online gaming, so has player’s acceptance and interest in a variety of games increased. Virtual sports heavily rely on quality visuals to enhance their experience as well as player’s trust in the systems behind the technology.
The current generation of web users has a greater understanding and trust in the technology underpinning online games. Appreciate that complex algorithms dictate outcomes and deliver a degree of randomization to results. This gives the player confidence in the fairness of the game, which is leading to much greater interest and demand for virtual sports platforms.
The growth in the video gaming industry and easy comparisons between virtual sports and video gaming have also made virtual sports platforms more palatable for the modern, tech-savvy audience.
Forward-thinking operators should plan to deliver a virtual sports system that meets these requirements in a way that can be delivered to a range of mobile devices along with options for heavy social interaction, natively from the game. Increasingly, these are features players expect from their games as standard, so not delivering them on launch will harm player perception and return business.
What Are Virtual Sports?
Modern virtual sports find their roots in post-war American fantasy sports, where golf was the first sport to formally run as a fantasy system. It has come a long way since then, experiencing huge growth in the early 1980s and moving online in the mid-1990s.
At the core of the game, is selecting a roster of players from a real-world sport to form a fantasy team. Once selected, the platform will use these selections, the operator’s algorithm to generate the performance of the fantasy team’s players and so calculate results for the game.
This unique hybrid of virtual and real-world influences on results makes virtual sports an exciting prospect for players across the globe. Offering the best features of the virtual casino and sports betting on a single, widely accessible platform. Operators structure their games in several ways, some lasting season to season, across years, whilst others offer a much faster turnaround with only a single tournament or weekend included within the league.
This flexibility attracts a wide range of players, catering to those who want a short-term game as well as those who seek a longer-term, in-depth experience with friends. The same platform can be used to run games across multiple sports, offering gamblers a single point of contact across a wide spread of sports, giving ease of betting and an option for quick-turn bets.
Why Make The Jump To Virtual Sports?
Whilst it is undeniable that there is a direct link between virtual and real-world sports, there are several differences between the two worlds that demonstrate the unique opportunities offered by virtual sports over traditional betting options.
Always on
Virtual sports are ready to go when your players are, 24/7! Unlike traditional sporting events which have a time and date when they happen, a virtual sport can be run when and where your gamblers want.
Convenient
We can also control how long an event runs in the virtual arena, giving players quick turnaround times on bets placed. Having to wait 90 minutes for a football game to conclude to see if you win is not the same as a platform that can deliver the same tension but with results delivered in a few minutes.
Accessibility
Unlike real-world sporting events, we can optimize virtual sports for the small screen, giving us the ability to make the user experience of gambling on the move on their mobile or tablet, on a par with their desktop. By comparison, video shot for television on a mobile device can be hard to decipher and text-only feeds don’t convey the atmosphere of the live event.
Variety
As discussed above, a virtual platform can be used to offer games across an unprecedented range of different events in one place. This opens the gambler to various innovative and exciting sports they won’t see anywhere else.
Lower barrier to entry
Being run by an algorithm, virtual sports can be a more stable and predictable environment than real-world events. Reading past performance of virtual players and teams is a much more reliable indicator of likely performance for players than some bookie’s odds. This makes the games and platform much more accessible to new players than traditional sports betting, having more predictable results also increases the likelihood that players will return and reuse the games in the future.
The algorithm also removes the need for detailed or historical knowledge of a real sports environment, making it much easier for new players to access and engage with the betting experience.
Good for the operator
Being a cyber platform, the core of different virtual sports will often be the same. This enables an operator to bring out a wide range of virtual sports on a single platform, based on the same core code. By doing this, we reduce the cost of development and reduce costs for upgrading and adding features to all sports on the system in the future.
Growth market
The growth in online gambling has been explosive, with all indications showing that the market will only continue to grow. To succeed in this competitive market, an operator needs to deliver interesting, unique, and engaging games, all of which virtual sports can deliver with ease. Building a platform will enable a forward-thinking operator to diversify from more traditional online casino and gambling options to stand out from the crowd in this busy marketplace.
Should You Offer Virtual Sports?
Whilst many operators may be concerned about the investment needed to make a high-quality, reliable, and engaging virtual sports platform, for those who take the plunge, the benefits are clear. With large operators in the online gambling and casino arenas already offering these services, operators who ignore or miss this are running the risk of missing out not only on revenue but the market position as well. With the growth in VR set only to make these games more popular, now is the time to make your virtual sports plans a reality.
So, is it worth investing in? When Italy formally regulated virtual sports in 2014, it generated €1.2 billion in total revenues in the first year of operation. In the UK, virtual sports generate 4-6% of online revenue. With those types of figures already in place, and growth occurring every year, the sooner an operator invests in this exciting marketplace, the better.
