Head to any of the most popular online sports betting sites and you
will be well aware that each site will likely offer a large number of different promotions and offers for their customers. We are not only talking about the new player bonuses that you can get when you sign up at a casino, but also the offers that are available for a short term on specific sports events or tournaments, or even games that sites have developed themselves to offer players the chance to win big money.
A great example of the latter being the Betway 4 To Win racing prediction game, or the sites 4 To Score football version, or even its 4 to Frag esports version of the promotion. Bet365 has its own Euro Soccer Bonus available throughout the football season. Almost every other betting site has similar promotions of its own.
However, a quick scan of the more generalised betting sites reveals that when it comes to promotions and offers that are specifically aimed at Virtual Sports betting, then you have pretty slim pickings as a punter and that, frankly, isn’t good enough.
Virtual Sports is Popular
Quite why this is, is unclear. After horse racing and football betting, both of which attract a significant number of promotional offers, Virtual Sports betting is the most important stream of revenue for modern online betting sites. Yet the number of promotions specifically available for Virtual Sports, is comparatively tiny compared to the two main sports.
Indeed, even if you factor in other sports, such as tennis, boxing, American sports, golf and rugby, then these sports, which don’t generate as much revenue as Virtual Sports betting, tend to have more promotional offers available for them.
Given the fact that Virtual Sports is popular, you would think that companies would be falling over themselves to offer potential punters a promotion to enjoy Virtual Sports with a bit more value, but as you can see below, specialist promotions for Virtual Sports are thin on the ground.
What Virtual Sports Promotions are or have been Available?
At the moment, we cannot find any of the sites that are routinely used
by most punters that offers an available Virtual Sports promotion.
However, it should be noted that in the past a number of sites, such as Bet365, Betfair, Coral, Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betway and 10Bet have offered ad-hoc promotions on Virtual Sports. Often these run for a short amount of time (typically about a week to a month) and they have tended to come in the format of either:
- Place a Virtual Sports bet of a set amount and get a free Virtual Sports bet to the same amount, or
- Place a Sports bet of up to a statetd amount and get a free Virtual Sports bet to the same value as your sports bet.
However, it is hit and miss as to whether you will find a Virtual Sports promotion available and that is really disappointing given how popular Virtual Sports betting is now with punters and how much income it generates for these sites.
What would we like to see in the future for Virtual Sports promotions?
If sports betting sites are going to offer Virtual Sports, and they are, and they are also going to increase the number of virtual sports services that they are offering on site, which they will, then it is imperative for them to offer customers some sort of deal in order to use them.
Now this can be done in a number of ways.
We have already seen that promotions where if you bet on Virtual 
Sports, or traditional sports, and get a free bet as a result are popular with sites and with customers, but they are also often only available for a short time. I think that these offers would need to be in place for a longer period of time for players to be able to use them.
Now of course, sites cannot offer a free bet on Virtual Sports each time you make a bet, but they can offer punters a deal where they will earn, say one Free Bet on Virtual Sports per week, if the customer makes so many or spends so much on bets on the site in the week prior.
Similarly, sites can guide punters to place bets on certain sporting events and tournaments by offering them a free Virtual Sports bet up to a stated value. For example, bet £10 on the Copa America tournament and receive a £10 free bet on Virtual Football.
There is also scope for companies to be a bit more creative with their Virtual Sports betting offering. Why not offer a Free Bet to a customer who places a bet of a stated amount (say £5) on the Win market of all of the sites Virtual Sports betting offerings? This would entice players to place bets on more than just their favourite Virtual Sports and would give them access to the full range of services on the site.
In truth, there’s no real limitations on what can be offered as part of the promotional services for Virtual Sports, and I’d hope to see more sports betting sites develop a more consistent and readily available number of promotions for Virtual Sports fans in the months and years to come.
Do check your New Player Bonus terms and conditions
One final thing to note on this matter is that with some sports betting
sites, it may be possible to use any bonuses you are due, or to generate your bonuses by betting, by using Virtual Sports betting as your chosen medium over traditional sports betting.
It is very wise therefore to check the terms and conditions of your new player bonus with your chosen betting site closely if you are intending to spend money and generate a bonus on Virtual Sports. Some sites may exclude Virtual Sports from the bonus process, others may well allow Virtual Sports to be part of you earning or spending your bonus cash.
It is hard to say whether this is the case as each bookmaker has its own set of rules and regulations regarding their introductory offers, so it is well worthwhile spending a bit of time trawling through the terms and conditions of any offers to check whether you can, for example, meet the wagering requirement of your starter bonus by betting on Virtual Sports as well as real life sporting events.
