William Hill bets on virtual reality racing

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 ride is something that lots of consumers who bet in shops or online do not experience.

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

The UK's Gambling Commission said that it would be monitoring innovations such as virtual reality to ensure that they did not encourage excessive betting.

Using virtual truth headsets, integrated with GPS racetrack information, it is giving customers the chance to see the race from the jockey's point of view.

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

"We wish to bring clients closer to the sporting action, to experience the yohaig code thrill of the ride."

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

Combining the data created a virtual race users can see via either Google Cardboard or an Oculus Rift.

The innovation is not yet offered to the public however was on program at an open day at the firm's technology laboratory in Shoreditch.

Users first choose the horse they wish 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 prepares to include more courses and live races next year.

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

The strategy is to introduce the service as part of the William Hill app.

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

It might also be offered in some wagering shops, said Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were likely to be provided out free at racecourses.

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

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

The market is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, which stated that it "monitors innovation in the gambling market in order to guarantee operators continue to comply with the conditions of their licences".

"Operators are needed to ensure that they bet9ja's welcome offer betting in an accountable manner, which will consist of offering tools to enable consumers to handle their gaming activity in addition to having policies and treatments in location to identify possibly problematic behaviour and engage with customers who display that behaviour," a spokesperson included.

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