As the third most important revenue stream for bookmakers in the United Kingdom, it is easy 
to see why so many companies like 10Bet, Betway, bet365 and similar are investing a lot of time, money and resources into expanding the number and improving the quality of the Virtual Sports games that are available for players to enjoy.
This year alone, we have already seen the release of a number of ‘next generation’ titles, such as Virtual Cricket, Darts, Basketball and American Football, as well as new and updated versions of old favourites such as Horse Racing and Greyhound Racing.
Add to that number the remaining games that have been available for some time now and it is easy to see how rapidly the Virtual Sports market is growing. That is just a few bookmakers in the UK too, the same sequence of events is being replicated in many places across the world, where Virtual Sports are proving to be just as popular, if not more popular, than here in the U.K.
However, if you are one of the millions of people that enjoy Virtual Sports betting, there are some other options you can also enjoy that offer a similar experience. In this article, we are going to look at some of the most obvious things that a fan of Virtual Sports can also wager on, that they should enjoy as much as Virtual Sports betting.
And of course, when you are considering this, then there is only really one place you can start and that is with the field of real sports betting.
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Sports Betting
Given that Virtual Sports is simply a computer-generated replica of the real sports betting 
markets that you would find online, it stands to reason that punters that enjoy Virtual Sports are likely to enjoy betting on real sports events too.
Of course, there are some drawbacks to Virtual Sports. Sporting events that happen in the real world take place at stated times, so there may be a long wait between placing your bet and getting your result. This can be minutes, hours, days, weeks or even months depending on the bet you make.
Another thing to note with real world sports betting is that any number of factors can influence the result one way or the other. For example, a refereeing decision in a football or rugby game can drastically influence the result one way or the other. This doesn’t happen in Virtual Sports as all results are worked out using a random number generator.
However, on the positive side of things, with Virtual Sports, you can’t research your bets but you can with real life sports betting. You also tend to find that you will have a much larger selection of bets available for you to pick from and the odds in real life sports betting events tend to be far greater in spread.
The sheer number of sports bets you can make across the full range of sports is immense compared to Virtual Sports too, so if you like to have plenty of choice, the world is your oyster with sports betting. And you can bet In Play on many sporting events too, something that, as yet, you cannot do in Virtual Sports (but which I can see being added in future versions).
Another positive is that betting on sports is very much the same type of process as betting on virtual sports, so it is easy to transfer over from one to the other with almost no difference in the way you bet. So much so that it is as easy to transfer from mainly sports betting to Virtual Sports betting as it is to go the other way too.
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Slots
At first, it may seem illogical to suggest that Virtual Sports betting and playing slots are 
anywhere near the same and at face value, they appear to be very different.
However, when you look ‘underneath the bonnet’ of each type of game, essentially you have the same process. A player places their bet, once the bet is made a random number generator works out the result and then the software decides if the players bet is a winner or not, and then pays them if they have indeed landed a win.
The actual process itself for slot gaming is almost identical to Virtual Sports, it is only that slots display their results using reels and symbols, whereas Virtual Sports uses a computer-generated sports event.
As such, slot games are probably closer to Virtual Sports betting than real life sports betting is. Indeed, in some states in America, you can play Virtual Sports betting and slots, but you are not allowed to bet on real life sports.
There are thousands of different slot games available to play and it is up to the individual Virtual Sports player to decide which type of slot suits their game. We’d advise you to start with some classic such as NetEnt’s Starburst and Microgaming’s Mega Moolah progressive jackpot slot.
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Video Poker
In much the same way that a random number generator is at the heart of slot gaming, so it is 
also the beating heart of Video Poker games.
Unlike standard poker, which is played against other players and requires a high level of skill and understanding to become anywhere near competent at the game, Video Poker is a random game of chance that does not require specific poker skills to play.
Instead, all you need to do is make the best hand possible from a hand of five cards. You have one option in the game, to select any cards you wish to discard and those you want to keep in your hand from the original deal. Once selected, the cards you discarded are removed and fresh cards dealt to you.
Your hand is then compared to winning hands and if you achieve a hand above a minimum level (which is usually around two-pair) then you win an amount set by the game, the higher the value of your hand, the larger the amount you win (which is expressed as a ratio to your bet, in the same way odds are expressed as a ratio in fractional odds).
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Esports Betting
One other form of betting that the more technologically astute Virtual Sports punters may 
enjoy is esports betting. There is some degree of confusion between the two terms, and esports betting is very different to Virtual Sports betting.
Esports refers to professional computer game tournaments and matches that are growing massively in popularity at the moment and refer to games like CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch, Apex Legends and Fortnite. Teams and individuals compete in tournaments for big prize money and now you can bet on these events.
Esports betting is essentially the same as sports betting in that you bet using the same processes, the only difference is that rather than via a sports event, the two protagonists you bet on, compete in a computer game.
With so many different ways to enjoy wagering nowadays that are similar to Virtual Sports, it is good that those fans of Virtual Sports can experience new ways to bet.
