Sports are popular around the world and something many people like to get involved with. While this can often mean actively playing them, it can also encompass watching them. This is certainly true for soccer, where top leagues such as La Liga and the MLS always give fans something to shout about. While real-world sports have been with us for a long time, one sort of new sporting event is beginning to grab more headlines. Known as virtual sports, these are games that you can find online and includes the practice of placing bets on the outcome of digital matches.
Although they were once fairly niche, virtual sports are growing fast around the world. This sees people able to play virtual sports casino games online and there are plenty of platforms that carry this type of game to get involved with. But what exactly is it all about?
What are virtual sports?
In a nutshell, these are simulated online versions of sporting events. The main difference is that they take place purely online (rather than in the real world) and use complex software to decide the outcome of the event.
In addition, virtual sports games use the same sort of random number generation tech as online slots do. For this reason, they are often classed as a casino game/sports betting hybrid, rather than a pure sporting event. As noted above, this means virtual sports are normally found at online casino sites, rather than to bet on at sportsbooks.
There is one important point to note here – virtual sports and esports are two different things! This is because esports involves human players competing against each other on video games such as Dota 2.
What sports are covered?
The simple truth is that all major real-world sports are now covered by virtual games. This naturally includes all the big hitters such as soccer, football, basketball, hockey and baseball. Virtual horse racing is also popular and has been around for a while.
One cool thing about this type of game is that the players in virtual sports usually have real-world counterparts. This makes the games more exciting, more authentic and more realistic. It can also make deciding where to put your money when betting on these games a bit easier. This is because the sides/players in virtual sports reflect how good they are in real life. For example, if Liverpool are playing Fleetwood Town in a VS event, Liverpool would still be the hot favorite.
How do you play virtual sports games?
Just as you would find out the basics of soccer before starting to play, you also need to know how virtual sports work before getting involved. The first thing is to log on to an internet casino site and find the virtual sporting game you want to get involved with. Most iGaming platforms will make this easy by having a specific page for these games, or a search function that you can use.
Once you have done this, it is a case of making the relevant bet on the in-game market of your choice. Making betting part of the gameplay further explains why virtual sports is often seen as a casino game/sports betting hybrid.
The other cool thing about these digital events is the range of markets to bet on. As with real-life sports betting, you can back the winner or choose from other types of bet. If you make the right call, your bet comes in and you win. Most virtual sports games are on-demand, which means you simply log in and enjoy them when you are free.
Why play virtual sports games?
Of course, you will want to know why playing these games is worthwhile. The main reason is that they are lots of fun and deliver plenty of thrills. In addition, virtual sports help give you some sporting action to catch, if no games are on in the real world.
This can be a real bonus if you like to make sports part of your daily routine and are having trouble finding real-world events to enjoy. For those who like to play casino games, virtual sports can offer a fresh alternative to games you would usually play at your casino of choice. This helps to keep your gaming sessions interesting and means you always have a new type of game to try if you get bored.
Virtual sports is expanding quickly
Although virtual sports might not be a type of game you have heard about before, it is actually a huge market worldwide. It is thought to generate around $12bn in revenue per year globally, for example, and this demonstrates the great inroads it has made into the casino gaming/sports betting industry.