Iain DavidThis type of virtual sports was created by bookmakers to “plug holes” between events. The matches – or races – are quick, last only a few minutes, and are events that feature fictitious team names, athletes or animals.
Betting on traditional virtual sports is basically a coin toss. There is no connection to reality.
Still, it can be fun to bet, not least because of the speed with which events happen, you do not waste much time and you can still make some money.
How to bet on virtual sports?
Here, as they are fast events, bets are only pre-game. But the markets are numerous.
In addition to virtual football, bets can be placed on horse racing, tennis, greyhound racing, cycling, darts, motor racing, among others.
What are virtual sports?
We can define virtual sports in 3 categories:
- virtual sports – quick matches of sports such as equestrianism and football, last few minutes, generated by a software;
- e-sports – e-sports matches that are videogame games, such as CS:GO and LoL;
- simulated reality – entire championships created based on simulations using real data from players and teams
For those who want to take advantage of periods of low traditional sports activity, the upside is that the method for making bets on virtual sports is practically the same as for traditional sports.
What changes are the strategies and the knowledge required in each betting activity.
Football simulated reality leagues
It didn’t take more than a month after the cessation of sports activities in 2020 for “Simulated Reality Leagues” to begin. The first leagues were organised by Sportradar, and were the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga.
The similarity with traditional virtual sports lies in the word “virtual”. Unlike ordinary virtual football games, which are with fictional teams and rely only on random events, this type of virtual football league relies on a lot of technological support.
To create a virtual football game with simulated reality, more than 50,000 real matches are dissected and every detail, every statistic goes into the database.
And, like a real football match, the games are 90 minutes long (two 45-minute halves) and are a very good source for the live markets.
How to bet on football simulated reality?
One of the world’s biggest bookmakers does not have markets for simulated reality leagues, only for “traditional” virtual sports.
And the markets, here, are many. To give an example, bet365 virtual football offers pre-match betting 1 x 2, correct score, number of goals, various handicaps. It can be a good pastime, as the matches take place within a few minutes.
Betting on events like the virtual Premier League or virtual Champions League, for example, is almost like betting on a real game. Whether it’s pre-match events or live betting, options abound.
Virtual football league: which leagues are there?
Virtually all of the major European leagues now have an equivalent football simulated reality league.
- UEFA Virtual Champions League;
- English Premier League Virtual;
- Spanish La Liga Virtual;
- Bundesliga Virtual (Germany);
- Serie A Virtual (Italy);
- Virtual Ligue 1 (France);
- Super Liga Virtual (Turkey);
- Eredivisie Virtual (Netherlands);
- Virtual Premier League (Portugal);
- Virtual Premier League (Russia);
- Virtual SuperLeague (Greece);
- Virtual Bundesliga (Austria).