William Hill bets on virtual truth racing
1 October 2015
Anyone who has been to a racecourse will know the excitement when the horses pound towards the surface line.
But this promotion code adventure of the ride is something that numerous clients who wager in shops or online do not experience.
Bookmaker William Hill is eager to recreate it with virtual truth innovation.
The UK's Gambling Commission said that it would be monitoring innovations such as virtual reality to make sure that they did not encourage extreme gambling.
Using virtual truth headsets, integrated with GPS racetrack data, it is providing consumers the opportunity to view the race from the jockey's viewpoint.
"Currently you place a bet and very little occurs in between that and the outcome," said Crispin Nieboer, William Hill's director of innovation.
"We wish to bring consumers closer to the sporting action, to experience the adventure of the ride."
To test the possibilities, the team at William Hill labs constructed a 3D mock-up of Kempton Park racecourse and collected live data, by means of GPS trackers fitted on horses, throughout a training race at the course.
Combining the data produced a virtual race users can see via either Google Cardboard or an Oculus Rift.
The innovation is not yet readily available to the yohaig code public but was on program at an open day at the firm's technology laboratory in Shoreditch.
Users initially pick the horse they desire to race on. Accompanied by live commentary, users can turn and take a look at other horses along with triggering a data screen 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 gaps in the information so the horses suddenly accelerate in a live race, however we wish to have a proof-of-concept system prepared by Christmas," said Mr Nieboer.
The plan is to launch the service as part of the William Hill app.
"Users can pick the alternative to view the race as a basic video or they can be the jockey," Mr Nieboer said.
It might likewise be readily available in some betting shops, said Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were likely to be offered free at racecourses.
It is estimated that in the UK about 350,000 people have a gaming addiction, with over ₤ 7bn invested annually.
The expansion of online wagering has actually been blamed for making it simpler to gamble and some feel services such as virtual truth might include to the issue.
The market is controlled by the UK Gambling Commission, which said that it "monitors innovation in the gaming market in order to make sure operators continue to adhere to the conditions of their licences".
"Operators are needed to make sure that they provide betting in an accountable manner, which will include offering tools to allow clients to handle their gaming activity along with having policies and procedures in place to determine possibly troublesome behaviour and interact with consumers who display that behaviour," a representative added.
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