William Hill Bets On Virtual Reality Racing

William Hill bets on virtual reality racing

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1 October 2015

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

But this promotion code adventure of the trip is something that numerous clients who bet in stores or online do not experience.

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

The UK's Gambling Commission said that it would be keeping track of innovations such as virtual truth to make sure that they did not motivate extreme gambling.

Using virtual reality headsets, combined with GPS racetrack information, it is providing clients the opportunity to see the race from the yohaig code jockey's perspective.

"Currently you place a bet and very little occurs in between that and the outcome," stated Crispin Nieboer, William Hill's director of innovation.

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

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To test the possibilities, the group at William Hill laboratories built a 3D mock-up of Kempton Park racecourse and collected live data, by means of GPS trackers fitted on horses, during a training race at the course.

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

The innovation is not yet offered to the general public however was on show at an open day at the company's innovation laboratory in Shoreditch.

Users first pick the horse they want to race on. Accompanied by live commentary, users can turn and look at other horses as well as activating an information screen about the horse's heart rate, stride and race position.

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

"Currently there are some spaces in the information so the horses suddenly accelerate in a live race, but we want to have a proof-of-concept system all set by Christmas," said Mr Nieboer.

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

"Users can select the alternative to see the race as a basic video or they can be the jockey," Mr Nieboer said.

It might likewise be offered in some wagering stores, stated Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were most likely to be offered free at racecourses.

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

The expansion of online betting has been blamed for making it simpler to bet and some feel services such as virtual reality could include to the problem.

The marketplace is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, which said that it "screens development in the gaming market in order to ensure operators continue to adhere to the conditions of their licences".

"Operators are required to make sure that they provide betting in a responsible manner, which will include offering tools to allow consumers to handle their gambling activity as well as having policies and treatments in location to recognize possibly troublesome behaviour and communicate with customers who show that behaviour," a spokesman added.