Nevada race books will soon start offering wagers on events that never happen in real life.
The Gaming Commission authorized betting on virtual events last month, at the same time it approved Olympics wagering. Now, race and sports book operators are seeking regulatory approval for the technology to facilitate virtual races.
William Hill led the push, and several other companies filed letters in support of the idea. It’s already legal in the United Kingdom.
Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill U.S., said virtual events could be “filler content” between real horse races, which have declined in popularity over the years in part due to a shrinking fan base and the rise of other, more popular forms of gambling and entertainment.
“This is not in any way, shape or form designed to replace live horse racing,” Asher said. “The idea with virtual is to put it in that gap where there’s nothing else happening. So if it’s a Tuesday and there’s two tracks running, it might be 20 minutes between races. Maybe you throw in a virtual race or two in that gap.”
Where a race book currently might have a dozen television screens showing only two tracks, Asher said the addition of virtual racing could allow them to show four — two live, two virtual.
The technology William Hill plans to use looks a lot like a video-game version of a live race, complete with odds as well as names for the horses and tracks. Unlike real life, however, the odds and the outcome are determined by a random number generator. And each race is an “independent event,” Asher said, so bettors won’t be able to watch a virtual horse progress from race to race.
Commission Chairman Tony Alamo was enthusiastic about introducing virtual events to race books, emphasizing in an interview that they would help operators make money off the downtime in between races, even if they don’t bring in a substantial amount of revenue.
“What we all hope is that this helps energize the horse racing betting industry,” Alamo said.
In general, the sportsbook operators that filed letters of support for virtual racing — the Westgate, CG Technology and Caesars Entertainment — backed it as a way of expanding their offerings. The Westgate’s letter said it could also be helpful in “attracting younger and more diverse customers.”
CG Technology wants to offer another type of racing, too.
Deputy General Counsel Quinton Singleton said the regulators should permit betting on historical races, which he described as occupying a middle ground between virtual races and real ones. Historical races are like virtual races because they don’t actually occur in real time, but instead of displaying a race that’s digitally simulated, the technology randomly selects a past race to show.
While bets are being taken, Singleton said, bettors would not be given details about the races coming up — such as dates and venues — thereby making it impossible to obtain the results.
“I believe historical race wagering is more compelling and a much more interesting product. You have real live races that are historical races that you get to watch. You have real statistics and real data from real people,” he said. “It’s as close to watching a real race as you can get.”
Alamo said he wants to see how virtual racing works out, and that historical racing would need “more vetting” before being implemented.
The virtual racing technology could, theoretically, be used to allow wagers on simulated greyhound races, auto races, or maybe even other sports. But for now, Asher said, “product No. 1 is horses.”