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William Hill bets on virtual reality racing
bet9ja.com
1 October 2015
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Anyone who has been to a racecourse will understand the enjoyment when the horses pound towards the finish line.

But this promotion code excitement of the ride is something that numerous customers who bet in shops or online do not experience.

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

The UK's Gambling Commission stated that it would be keeping track of such as virtual reality to ensure that they did not encourage extreme gambling.

Using virtual truth headsets, integrated with GPS racetrack information, it is offering consumers the possibility to view the race from the jockey's perspective.

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

"We wish to bring customers closer to the sporting action, to experience the excitement of the ride."

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

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

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

Users initially select the horse they want to race on. Accompanied by live commentary, wearers can turn and look at other horses in addition to activating an information display about the horse's heart rate, stride and race position.

William Hill plans to include more courses and live races next year.

"Currently there are some spaces in the information so the horses all of a sudden speed up in a live race, but we intend to have a proof-of-concept system ready by Christmas," said Mr Nieboer.
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The strategy is to introduce the service as part of the William Hill app.

"Users can pick the alternative to see the race as a standard video or they can be the jockey," Mr Nieboer said.

It might also be offered in some betting shops, stated Mr Nieboer, while Google Cardboard headsets were most likely to be offered out totally free at racecourses.
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It is estimated that in the UK about 350,000 individuals have a gambling addiction, with over ₤ 7bn invested each year.

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

The market is managed by the UK Gambling Commission, which said that it "screens development in the betting market in order to guarantee operators continue to comply with the conditions of their licences".

"Operators are needed to ensure that they provide gambling in a responsible manner, which will consist of offering tools to permit customers to manage their betting activity in addition to having policies and treatments in place to determine potentially troublesome behaviour and communicate with consumers who display that behaviour," a spokesperson included.

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