william-hill-bets-on-virtual-reality-racing

William Hill bets on virtual reality racing

1 October 2015

Anyone who has been to a racecourse will understand the excitement when the horses pound towards the goal.
bit.ly
But this promotion code excitement of the trip is something that many customers who wager in stores or online do not experience.

Bookmaker William Hill is eager to recreate it with virtual reality technology.
bet9ja.com
The UK's Gambling Commission stated that it would be monitoring innovations such as truth to guarantee that they did not encourage extreme betting.

Using virtual reality headsets, integrated with GPS racetrack data, it is giving consumers the opportunity to view the race from the jockey's viewpoint.

"Currently you position a bet and not much occurs between that and the outcome," said Crispin Nieboer, William Hill's director of development.

"We want to bring clients closer to the sporting action, to experience the thrill of the trip."

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

Combining the information developed a virtual race users can view through either Google Cardboard or an Oculus Rift.

The innovation is not yet readily available to the public but was on program at an open day at the company's technology laboratory in Shoreditch.
bit.ly
Users first select the yohaig code horse they desire to race on. Accompanied by live commentary, users can turn and look at other horses in addition to triggering a data display about the horse's heart rate, stride and race position.

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

"Currently there are some spaces in the information so the yohaig code horses suddenly accelerate in a live race, but we wish to have a proof-of-concept system all set by Christmas," stated Mr Nieboer.
bet9ja.com
The strategy is to release the service as part of the William Hill app.
bet9ja.com
"Users can choose the option to see the race as a standard video or they can be the yohaig code jockey," Mr Nieboer stated.
bit.ly
It might also be offered in some betting shops, said Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were most likely to be given out free at racecourses.

It is approximated that in the UK about 350,000 individuals have a betting addiction, with over ₤ 7bn spent every year.

The proliferation of online betting has actually been blamed for making it easier to gamble and some feel services such as virtual reality could contribute to the issue.

The market is controlled by the UK Gambling Commission, which stated that it "monitors innovation 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 use betting in a responsible manner, which will consist of offering tools to allow customers to handle their gaming activity in addition to having policies and procedures in location to identify possibly problematic behaviour and connect with customers who show that behaviour," a representative included.

VR brings real ski races to your home. Video, 00:03:51 VR brings real ski races to your home

6 February 2015
bit.ly
3:51

Bringing live sports to VR. Video, 00:04:16 Bringing live sports to VR
bet9ja.com
23 July 2015

4:16