As interest wanes in the "Sport of Kings" and the number of race tracks continue to decline in the U.S., Las Vegas bookmakers are looking to London for new ways to get you to place a $5 bet on a horse race.
You see, it’s not unusual for British gamblers to place a bet on virtual horse races, cycling races or soccer matches.
Virtual sports betting – wagering on events that never happen in real life – is heading to race and sports books in Las Vegas after recently gaining approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
William Hill U.S. CEO Joe Asher says virtual horse racing will be filler content between real races for people sitting in casino sports books.
“Virtual horse races look like real horse races, but the outcome is determined by a random number generator,” Asher told KNPR’s State of Nevada on Monday. “So you place your bet. You can bet on the 4-to-1 horse or the 10-to-1 horse. There is no handicapping. You just pick your number and go with it.”
Asher said virtual horse racing is not designed to replace interest in real horse racing.
“It really, truly is filler content at least in my mind,” the veteran bookmaker said. “The driver for this is that we need more content, especially midweek, and we are very aware of the popularity of virtual sports in the United Kingdom.”
When asked to look into his crystal ball about what other virtual games could be introduced in race and sports books locally, Asher said William Hill will start with virtual horse racing, “maybe we’ll then go to greyhounds.”
“We’ll see where we go from there,” he said. “We are looking to have more things to bet on when people are sitting in our sports books.”
Asher said it was technically possible to offer a virtual March Madness college basketball game, but that is still a “bit off into the future.” He said the sports side of the business is doing very well right now.
“Handle is up, interest is up,” Asher said. “The sports side of our business has never been stronger. In 2012, Nevada had its best year ever for sports betting.”
The state’s 187 race and sports books won $227.04 million off of the $3.9 billion wagered on sports last year. Both amounts are all-time records, according to gambling figures released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Sports books won $113.73 million on college and pro football last year, while overall $1.74 billion was bet on football during 2014. In comparison, the books won approximately $16.5 million from horse racing and other bets, according to gaming regulators.
“We do really well on horse racing 5 days a year,” Asher told KNPR. “The Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont and the two days of the Breeders Cup. The other 360 days are really challenging.”
Asher said it’s because of the difficulties facing the horse racing business that William Hill and other sports book operators are looking to try and supplement that business with virtual races.
Copyright 2015 KNPR-FM. To see more, visit http://www.knpr.org/. 9(MDA0NjY4NzQ2MDEyOTc4NzIzMThmMjJkMg001))
Joe Asher, CEO, William Hill US