Virtual Sports is one of the fastest growing betting industries in the world today, but for many people it is still a 
relatively unknown aspect of sites such as 10Bet and Betway. Some people perhaps don’t quite understand how Virtual Sports work or the niche market they occupy on a betting site. So in this article, we are going to look at ten of the most common questions people have regarding Virtual Sports and then we will endeavour to answer them as best we can.
Let’s begin with the basics before we move on to more complicated questions:
What, in simple terms, are Virtual Sports?
In the simplest terms possible, Virtual Sports are a series of betting games each of which is a simulation of betting on a real-life sporting event. The key difference being that Virtual Sports are played to a conclusion within a few minutes, rather than the real-life amount of time a sports event usually takes to be completed.
There are a number of different Virtual Sports you can bet on including horse racing, greyhound racing, cycling, speedway, motor sports, soccer and even trotting.
Virtual Sports has two distinct sections, first is the betting section, which is the time before the Virtual Sports event starts that you have in order to place your bets. The second section is the simulation itself which graphically simulates your chosen sporting event on screen for you to view the outcome.
The sports available depend on your choice of bookmaker, with Betway offering a very good selection of Virtual Sports for the beginner.
As a sports betting enthusiast what are the advantages of Virtual Sports for me?
If you come from a sports betting background then the advantages of Virtual Sports for you are that you can place your bets on these events and have them resolved within a couple of minutes, rather than having to wait for an actual sports event to be completed. You also have a good choice of markets available and realistic odds.
However, as Virtual Sports are not base on real life events and are instead worked out by a sophisticated piece of computer software, this also gives you a solid introduction to different forms of casino gaming, which also use computer software to work out its results (such as slot games or roulette for example).
As a slots gamer or casino enthusiast, why should I pay attention to Virtual Sports?
Alternatively, if you are coming at Virtual Sports from a casino gaming background, then Virtual Sports, as an entertainment decided by computer software, is very like slots, video poker or indeed any other casino game you care to mention in that its outcomes are decided by software.
As such, while it may appear as if you are betting on sports, you are simply betting in a different way to betting on a slot game or roulette. Virtual Sports offer a great way for casino gamers to learn the basics about sports betting, before they try the real thing for themselves. You can learn about the different types of bets available in each sport for example through Virtual Sports, before betting on the real thing with your choice of online bookmaker.
Are all Virtual Sports the same to bet on?
No, you can broadly split Virtual Sports into two game types: Race Games and Competitive Games between teams or individuals. Race games include horse racing, cycling, speedway, greyhounds and similar and these tend to have similar bets available. Competitive games like Virtual Soccer, have completely different bets available to race games and there are often more markets to bet on in games than there are races.
What type of bets can I make, for example, on Virtual Soccer?
Using Betway’s Virtual Soccer as an example, with Virtual Soccer, you can bet on the Win/Draw/Win market, Total Goals, 1st Goal, Both Teams to Score, handicap 3-way, Half Time/Full Time, Correct Score, Double Chance, Home team to score, Away team to score, 1st Half Win/Draw/Win, 1st Half Correct Score, Winning Margin, Total Goals and the Home & Away Team total goals markets.
As you can see, there are an extensive range of bets available on Virtual Soccer and this compares favourably with race games which tend to have Win or Each way bets, plus Forecast/Tricast bets available in the main.
Does Virtual Sports offer you a wide range of odds to back across different sports and markets?
Yes it does. Some people think that Virtual Sports tends to offer only shorter odds options when betting and in some markets that is the case, but in others for certain sports, you can find some very long odds options if that is the type of betting you prefer. You can find odds of over 50/1 on several Virtual Sports betting markets (such as predicting the Correct Score in Virtual Football for example).
Why are Virtual Sports proving to be so popular?
That is perhaps the most difficult of all the questions posed on this page to answer. There is a novelty value of course but I think the real reason Virtual Sports are proving so popular is that they can be played through extremely quickly when compared to real-life sports betting. This allows punters to make the bets they would usually make across 2/3 days, in just a few minutes and have them resolved quickly too.
Isn’t it easy for the Casino to rig Virtual Sports so that you can rarely, if ever, win?
This is perhaps the most common question I have been asked about Virtual Sports over the past few years and the answer is that yes, like any other form of casino gaming, Casinos could if they so wished, rig games so that players could not win, or won only a tiny fraction of the time, to ensure that the casinos made a big fat profit.
However, there are several reasons why they can’t do this. Firstly, all software on casinos such as Betway and 10Bet has to be tested for fairness and safeness for players. If a piece of software is doctored, it will be discovered here and the casino’s licence is in danger, and they would certainly not be allowed to offer the software on their site.
Secondly, if a game is so obviously in a casinos favour, then players will quickly become aware of this and by word of mouth alone, people will not play the game. That means lost revenue for the casino and unhappy players. Not a good combination. In truth for the casino to make a profit on Virtual Sports, they need players to win a fair amount of the time to keep them playing.
I don’t know anything about real sports, so am I at a disadvantage betting on Virtual Sports?
No, the great thing about Virtual Sports is that you do not require any advanced knowledge of any of the sports, or its players, runners or riders before you bet as everything is random. As such, having an extensive knowledge of football won’t help you on Virtual Football as it is only the computer software that generates the result.
What does the future hold for Virtual Sports?
At the moment, Virtual Sports are growing in popularity, but the technology is ripe for further development in the future. I see additional games and sports being added to the portfolio of Virtual Sports offered by companies like Betway and 10Bet, but I also see the current selection of sports being refined and improved to include more bets and more features, such as matches taking place in a league context so that each Virtual game has some meaning and this can generate form for teams or runners. Indeed, this technology is already being developed and rolled out across some casinos.
Virtual Sports has a bright future and it is likely with its expanding user-base, to be one of the most important forms of entertainment for casinos in the future. So why not give it a try today at Betway or 10Bet Casino?
