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 enjoyment when the horses pound towards the goal.

But this promotion code adventure of the trip is something that numerous clients who wager in stores or online do not experience.

Bookmaker William Hill is eager to recreate it with virtual truth technology.
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The UK's Gambling Commission stated that it would be monitoring developments such as virtual truth to make sure that they did not motivate excessive betting.
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Using virtual truth headsets, integrated with GPS racetrack data, it is providing customers the opportunity to see the race from the jockey's point of view.

"Currently you put a bet and very little takes place in between that and the outcome," said Crispin Nieboer, director of innovation.
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"We wish to bring consumers closer to the sporting action, to experience the adventure 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 information, by means of GPS trackers fitted on horses, throughout a training race at the yohaig code course.

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

The technology is not yet offered to the public however was on show at an open day at the company's technology lab in Shoreditch.
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Users first select the yohaig code horse they desire to race on. Accompanied by live commentary, wearers can turn and look at other horses as well as triggering a data display screen about the horse's heart rate, stride and race position.

William Hill plans to add more courses and live races next year.
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"Currently there are some spaces in the data so the horses unexpectedly accelerate in a live race, however we intend to have a proof-of-concept system ready by Christmas," said Mr Nieboer.

The plan is to launch the service as part of the William Hill app.
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"Users can select the alternative to enjoy the race as a basic video or they can be the jockey," Mr Nieboer stated.

It might also be readily available in some betting shops, said Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were most likely to be provided free at racecourses.

It is approximated that in the UK about 350,000 individuals have a gaming dependency, with over ₤ 7bn invested yearly.
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The expansion of online wagering has actually been blamed for making it much easier to gamble and some feel services such as virtual reality might include to the issue.
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The marketplace is controlled by the UK Gambling Commission, which stated that it "monitors innovation in the gaming market in order to ensure operators continue to comply with the yohaig code conditions of their licences".

"Operators are required to guarantee that they use gambling in a responsible manner, which will include offering tools to permit clients to handle their gaming activity in addition to having policies and treatments in location to identify potentially problematic behaviour and interact with consumers who show that behaviour," a spokesperson added.

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