Virtual sports games feature industry’s best practices. The games are highly engaging and well-accepted by punters. Still, some stars shine brighter, and Greyhound Races, Virtual Football League, and Virtual Horse Races are the most popular virtual sports games.

Virtual sports betting games have established themselves as engaging content across channels. If you google virtual sports, you might often find results like: “virtual sports are filling the gap between sports seasons.” But these games are more than just a filler episode in the betting operator settings, whether land-based or online. Just a quick look at the games available on the market explains a lot about their popularity.

Features and technology behind virtual sports betting
Technologies like motion capture have brought virtual sports betting to another level. The possibility to record the movement of objects and people and render them in a virtual world was a gamechanger in the movie industry and gaming. Betting suppliers are no exception for the content they create in this niche. Virtual football, basketball, tennis, and horse races are as exciting and lively as real-life matches and races. The games use dynamic camera angles, commentary, and crowd cheering to keep the flair and boost the excitement expected from the real tournaments. The available markets are the same or very similar to the betting options that sportsbook offers.

Just how serious game suppliers are states the fact that we can find games created in partnership with real-life sports associations.

RNG driven games

RNG drives virtual sports betting. A random number generator (RNG) and given odds determine the virtual betting results. RTP (Return to player) rate depends on the type of race/sport and available markets.

Virtual sports betting is not exclusively CGI
Virtual sports betting using actual footage instead of CGI (Computer-generated imagery) is equally attractive, if not even more popular than animations for some race games – dog races, for example. NSoft offers two dog racing games – Virtual Greyhound Races featuring CGI and Greyhound Races, which use real-life footage. Although the mechanic of the game and the betting markets are identical, players engage more with the game that features videos from real-life races. This trend goes for almost all countries where our two games are available regardless of the distribution channels.

Top three virtual sports games
NSoft offers nine virtual sports games within its virtual sports betting catalogue. The games cover the most popular racers and sports in the industry. Most of them are available for all channels, including mobile apps and terminals. The games feature industry’s best practices and are highly engaging and well-accepted by punters. Still, some stars shine brighter, and Greyhound Races, Virtual Football League, and Virtual Horse Races are NSoft’s top three according to the number of tickets. This is also in line with the betting industry in general.

Greyhound Races
NSoft offers two dog racing games. The one featuring real-life footage has always been operators’ and players’ first choice. The game is available for retail, online, mobile app, and betting terminals. Greyhound Races game combines the best of both worlds: exciting pre-recorded race and RNG running in the background. The bettor has several markets to choose from: which dog, out of six on the racetrack, shall win, who will be the winner and the runner-up, the first three dogs to cross the finish line, and more.

The game also shows a racetrack diagram during the race visualisation. At the end of the race, the game features still shoot right before the race results for that round.

The game is enriched with the statistics showing the results of several previous races and the statistics on the dogs per market.

Virtual Football League
The most popular sport globally is football (soccer), followed by basketball and cricket. Football has the biggest fan base, so it’s no wonder that the virtual football betting game would also be popular among punters. In terms of betting experience, nobody questions the primacy of real deals and betting for the favourite football club in a major league. Still, virtual football is close to that kind of excitement. Although virtual sports betting generally is a type of wagering made on computer-simulated sports and events, the outcomes of the games are determined by an RNG software that is also used for casino games or virtual numbers betting. Virtual Football betting game has kept a sports betting flair.

The game is fast-paced, runs 24/7, the matches won’t be rescheduled due to rain, and the punters enjoy the possibilities the game offers in terms of markets and availability.

At NSoft, the number of tickets in May 2022 was 18.5% higher compared to December 2021. Several competition formats are available within Virtual Football League provided by NSoft. The betting game is available for web, mobile app, and retail.

Virtual Horse Races
The game mechanic in the Virtual Horse Races game is the same as the one used in the dog races. NSoft’s horse races feature eight competitors in a virtual hippodrome. The punters have six market options to choose from. The round duration is configurable and can be shortened, especially for the online channel and mobile app game versions.

Honourable mention: Virtual Penalty Shootout
Virtual Penalty Shootout is the first NSoft game made using mocap technology. NSoft’s in-house team has developed a showdown between the goalkeeper and the penalty taker. The one-on-one game offers goal and no-goal betting types with several betting options within.

What else Virtual sports betting has to offer
Virtual sports betting continues to grow. It certainly won’t surpass the Sportsbook or Casino content, holding 1st and 2nd position respectively in the popularity, but is undoubtedly the one that is here to stay. Motion capture technology, CGI combined with live filmed environments to give a realistic and immersive racing experience, or usage of real-life footage has elevated the players’ experience and popularised the virtual sports betting games.

Most suppliers offer customisation options so the operators can adjust the scenery to match preferences and meet the punters’ expectations. If the most famous clubs in the country have white/blue and white/red jerseys, it is almost certain that the virtual football or penalty kick will also feature those mentioned colours.