About Bet365’s Virtual Sports
Bet365 is without a doubt in the big league of the betting industry. The brand has its hands on all aspects of betting, ranging from online sportsbooks to online casinos. With the boom in online virtual sports, Bet365 went ahead and joined the bandwagon and included a virtual sports section in their already well-established website.
For starters, I am a big fan of virtual gaming, especially virtual football and motor racing. The idea of having live sporting action round the clock especially when the regular seasons are on break is more than exciting. At first, I thought it was about the Bet365 eSports section, but then I learned what the Bet365 virtual gaming portal really is and thought it was wise to check it out. After all, this is one of the biggest online betting platforms around. This is a comprehensive, unbiased review of the experience I had playing at Bet365. At the end of this review, I will give a score and rating based on the quality of virtual gaming I experience here.
To access the Bet365 virtual gaming portal, you will first have to open the sports betting section. For some reason, virtual sports are listed as one of the sporting categories, rather than as a stand-alone betting section. Since the sporting events here are arranged alphabetically, it was quite easy to locate the ‘Virtual Sports’ tab which is placed in between Tennis and Volleyball.
Once you enter the virtual sports main landing page, you are greeted with a simple and neat layout. At the very top is a menu bar listing the various virtual sports lined up. I found the categorisation of these virtual sports to be quite neat and easy to navigate. From this menu bar, there is a link to open the virtual horse races, virtual greyhounds, virtual soccer, virtual motor racing, virtual speedway, virtual cycling, virtual tennis, and virtual trotting. I also tried clicking on the two new additions for virtual cricket and virtual darts, but the links were unresponsive, probably because these categories are still under development.
Although I am a big fan of football and virtual racing, I took my time at each of the other virtual sports offered here. In the next section, I have done a detailed review of each of these virtual games, including the quality of the graphics, betting markets and length of each sport.
Virtual Soccer
My first stop was at the virtual soccer page to see if indeed Bet365 did any justice to my favourite sport. By most standards, I found the Bet365 virtual soccer to be quite okay. The first thing to notice is there are three virtual tournaments on offer here. There is a Premiership, Superleague, and World Cup. All these three tournaments run concurrently on three different screens. You can easily switch from one video stream to the other by clicking the tabs placed at the top of the screen, just like changing sports channels on your TV.
I did a quick scan through the structure of all three and the available betting markets. To my surprise, none of them is structured like a football league with points format. Instead, the matches are played out like tournaments, with no eventual winners being determined. You could think of these more like friendlies. The key distinguishing factor among all three virtual football tournaments is the type of teams used.
The Premiership is modeled around the real-life Premier League. The team names have been altered a bit, but if you are a true EPL fan, then you can quickly identify them. For example, instead of Crystal Palace, you will have Palace Eagles, a cross between the team name and their mascot eagle. The Superleague, on the other hand, brings together all the top football clubs from around the world. You can think of this as the Club World Cup. Here you will find top tier clubs from Europe and South America. The naming system is the same as that of the premiership team, with some slight modifications done to the real team names. The third tournament offered here is the World Cup. I found this one to be pretty straight forward as it involves top national football teams.
Other than the teams used, the rest of the game structure is the same across all three tournaments. The matches are designed to kick off every three minutes. What I did realise though is that the kickoff times have been staggered. This means that no two matches from different leagues start at the same time. There is a difference of about 1 minute for each.
Being a Premier League fan, I opted to start my review with the Premiership games. Each virtual football match lasted roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds. The game entailed previews of key moments in the match. There was also a half time break, an interval that lasts about 5 seconds then the match automatically resumes. Once the match is over, the results are presented followed by an introduction of the next match. This break period lasted another 60 seconds. The teams playing the next match start walking into the virtual pitch 15 seconds to kickoff. I took my time to check out the other two tournaments and the cycle was the same.
Having reviewed hundreds of other virtual football matches, I would have to say the quality of the simulated video streams here is not all that. Although the audio effects and English commentary make the football matched sound real, the animations are not sharp enough. Also, there is no button to maximise the streaming screen.
Aside from the video streams, the betting markets turned out to be quite impressive. There are about 22 different markets here, including the usual 1X2, Number of Total Goals, Correct Score, Double Chance and HT/FT. It was amazing to find that with the virtual football matches you can also bet on Asian Handicap markets. The betting markets remain open all through the matches, giving you the chance to place in-play live bets as well.
Virtual Tennis
Although I am not a big tennis fan, I like betting in virtual tennis games since they progress much faster than real life tennis matches. I particularly liked the virtual tennis matches at Bet365 as they turned out to be 90 seconds of non-stop tennis action.
Unlike the virtual football section, the quality of the video simulations seemed better here. In addition, the audio effects and umpire’s voice over the PA system complete the live tennis stadium atmosphere. It was also interesting to see the video assistant referee coming into play on a few occasions on contentious decisions. However, there are no breaks in between the sets, which is still a good thing to maintain the gaming momentum.
As the virtual tennis match ends, the match results are displayed on the screen. From this screen, you can tell the match winner along with the odds that had been assigned for each of the various betting markets. This break duration lasted another 90 seconds, as the next set of players set up the next match.
Speaking of betting markets, Bet365 opted to keep it brief and simple in terms of the betting options. Here I could only find three betting options; Match Winner, Total Points, and Correct Score. The odds are designed to vary in a manner that reflects real tennis match betting markets. However, as it is the case with all virtual sports, you should always bear in mind this is a game of chance as the outcomes are randomly determined, rather than being based on track records.
Interestingly, the virtual tennis matches also support live bets as I could place more bets during gameplay. But you will realise as the game progresses, some of the markets become inactive based on the action on the field.
Virtual Horse Racing
Horse racing has for centuries been a top-grossing event in gambling halls. When virtual sports began gaining popularity, virtual horse races were among the first to be introduced. It, therefore, would unimaginable if Bet365 did not include a virtual horse race or two. It was interesting to find three different horse racing tracks running concurrently here. Labelled as Britannia Way, Festival Downs and Victoria Park, these are three virtual races tracks that host virtual races running concurrently.
In each of the virtual racetracks, a new race kicks off every three minutes. I decided to try my luck on at least two from each of the race tracks. Each race lasted between 30 to 45 seconds, with a brief replay of the finishing line being played immediately after the race.
The return to player rate from these virtual races seems to be quite favourable as from the six races; I easily won 5. You should take note that I was playing in mixed bets that involved multiple combinations. To better understand these bets, I will explain the betting markets available here.
Like with real horse races, you can place three main types of bets; Win Each Way, Forecast and Tricast. In a Win Each Way bet, you will basically be backing one horse to either win the race or finish in the top three positions. The odds for winning the race are indicated next to the horse’s name, while the Each Way odds for the first three positions are at 1/5. The Forecast and Tricast bets, on the other hand, are different in that you will be backing two and three horses to finish in the top two and top three positions respectively. You can choose to place any of these three bets individually or as a combo bet. In my reviews, I prefer placing combo bets as they have higher returns, although the risks are equally higher.
Once the races were over, the screen quickly transitions to the next race lineup. What I did not like about these virtual horse races is that you cannot scroll back to view the previous results, unlike with other virtual horse races. Once the results are wiped off the screen, that’s it.
Virtual Greyhounds
Right next to the virtual horses’ tab is the virtual greyhounds. This turned out to be another interesting virtual sport to try out. The beauty with greyhound race is that like with the horse races; these are fast adrenaline packed activities. Greyhounds tend to offer highly rewarding betting markets, with odds that are averagely higher than most other races.
By clicking the greyhound’s tab at the Bet365 virtual gaming portal, the screen opens up to a selection of two different arenas. The first racing track is dubbed Goldenhill Park and the second the Hillside Park. Similar to the virtual horses, the virtual greyhound races are set to kick off three minutes apart in each of these arenas. One thing I noticed, however, is that the kick-off times are staggered, basically meaning the two arenas cannot have races starting at the same time. This is interesting since it means at no point will you find both races on break, since they have different kick-off schedules.
I placed bets on races from both virtual arenas and sat back to enjoy the racing action. Each of these races features a maximum of 6 greyhounds. The races last on average between 30 and 40 seconds. At the end of the race, there is an overlay of the video replays from the dogs crossing the finishing line. The replayed took another 10 seconds, after which the results from the races are tabulated on the screen. As it is the case with the virtual horse races, the results show only the top three finishers. To keep track of your dog’s performance, you, therefore, need to monitor its trap number using the race bar placed at the bottom of the screen.
There is no big difference in terms of the betting markets offered here from those of the virtual races, as I could still access the Win Each Way, Forecast and Tricast betting options. The only difference is that the greyhounds offer Each Way bets at odds 1/4 for the first two places only.
Virtual Speedway
This is another virtual sport that Bet365 seem to have developed so well. The video streams are done so well that it was too much fun watching the virtual races and nearly forgot about the betting bit. Although the virtual speedways video streams suffer the same problem of not having a screen maximiser button, the camera angles used to make up for this. You can still catch all the racing even from the small embedded screen.
The structure of the virtual speedway here actually does not differ much from the others we have reviewed before. In this one, you will also have four bikers doing two laps around the virtual dirt race track. The races are designed to start at an interval of exactly 3 minutes. I timed each of these races, and they lasted an average of 30 seconds, give or take 3. The virtual races might seem prolonged, but this is mainly from the replay videos that immediately follow after the race ends.
Unlike with the other virtual races offered by the Bet365 sportsbook, there is only one virtual speedway track. This means after one race is done, you will have to wait for about two more minutes before the next one starts. You could use this break interval to check out the betting markets in the next speedway races. When doing this review, I could view up to 5 more races lined up. This means you can place pre-race bets way beforehand and get on with doing other things or playing in other sections.
The betting markets available here offer only two options. The first option is betting on the outright winner of the race. The second betting option is a place bet. The small number of race participant has limited the place bet to only Forecast bets, where you can back only two racers for the top two finishers. The Forecast bet here allows you to determine the order of these racers’ appearance or leave it to open to any order.
It is also worth noting that the odds offered at the Bet365 virtual speedway tend to be relatively higher. For instance, you will seldom find any odds below 2.0. I noticed most of the odds are above 2.5. The real cash cow lies in the Forecast markets which tend to have double-digit odds. You should, however, remember that the more enticing the odd, the higher your risk.
Virtual Motor Racing
Just like soccer, motor racing is a sport close to my heart. I was, therefore, eager to check out how Bet365 has created their virtual motor racing games. The first thing to notice, as expected, is the quality of the simulated video streams. The quality of the animations is satisfactory. However, for a bookmaker the calibre of Bet365, I have to say my expectations were a bit high.
For instance, we have previously reviewed other virtual motor races with more elaborate starts. There is a proper introduction with the cars lined up in their grids. This is not the case with Bet365. Save for the commentator calling out the start; you can easily miss the flag off here.
I found the camera angles to be okay as well as the sound effects. Also, the design of the race track and the virtual fans stand to look quite good.
After viewing a couple of these races, I decided to have a look at the betting options available. With the virtual motor races, I had the option to choose between Race Winner bets and Forecast/Tricast bets. For the first bet, I tried the race winner markets which seemed to have pretty decent odds. The second option involves place bets on either the first 2 or the first three positions. With these markets, you can also choose the specific order the racers you are backing will finish in or you can leave it open.
Overall the virtual motor racing is good enough as it serves the purpose. However, there are still a few areas that Bet365 could improve on to make it stand out among other options on leading sites.
Virtual Cycling
Still, at the virtual games menu bar, you will see the virtual cycling tab. In this section, Bet365 offers velodrome style cycling races. The design of the velodrome itself is quite impressive as it captures the aesthetics of a real velodrome arena. The simulations on the racers also caught my eye as they appear well defined and sharper than the virtual figures in other virtual sports offered here.
As with the virtual motor races, there is only one screen offering the live action here. You will, therefore, have a break interval of about 1 minute and 45 seconds in between the races. I decided to have a look at the betting markets during this break interval.
The betting options available here are no different from the ones offered under the virtual motor races. You will have three betting options; either the Race Winner bet, the Forecast bet or the Tricast bet. These three betting markets follow their conventional betting rules.
The betting markets closed at about 5 seconds to the start of the races. This means there are no live bets available for the virtual velodrome markets. Each race entails three full laps around the velodrome. This takes about 1 minute, although the actual race itself lasts for about 45 to 50 seconds and the rest is taken up by replay videos.
Virtual Trotting
Trotting is another age-old sport that has found its way into the online gaming and betting world. If you are new to trotting, it is a horse race in which the horses have a two-wheel vehicle strapped to their backs. Unlike with conventional horse races where the jockeys ride the horseback, in trotting, the jockey will be seated in the drawn cart.
The virtual trotting races at Bet365 take place at a virtual arena named Etruria Gardens. I could only get one race offered at a time here as there was no separate screen or arena, as it is the case with the other category of horse races. Still, the waiting time in between two races was not too long as you will have a new race starting at exactly two minutes after the end of each race.
Each race lasted only a minute and involved 8 participants. The quality of the video animations and sound effect is the same as that of the virtual horse races. At certain intervals, the video tends to get a bit grainy, but probably this is meant to be a video effect from the camera angles. I took my time and watched several of these races. Generally, the virtual trotting races are quite fun to watch even if you do not intend to make any real money bets.
But if you intend to make some real cash from the virtual sports, then the virtual trotting races give you ample betting options. Right below the embedded video screen is the betting cards. These resemble the betting options with the virtual horses. You can bet on either the outright winner, Forecast bet or Tricast bet.
In this review, I tested the virtual trotting system by placing a series of five bets. These included single bets and multi-bets combining the various markets. One thing that came out clear is that the results of each race are completely randomised. You should not be duped by low odds one participant has into thinking they are favourites. Any racers could emerge a winner, and you can only win by sheer luck. This is the beauty of virtual sports as you are assured no external factors such as match-fixing can influence the outcome.
Virtual Betting bonuses
As it is the case in all our reviews, we have to make a stop at the bonuses and promotions section to check if there are any goodies on offer. While doing this review, I could not trace any bonus, promotion or coupon intended for use with the virtual sports. This is quite sad considering the endless offers available for the other betting categories available at Bet365.
In the absence of the virtual betting bonuses, I had to make do with the other category specific bonuses and offers. The only disadvantage with such bonuses is that most of them are locked to particular categories and therefore you cannot use them for virtual betting.
In-play betting on Virtual Sports
Bet365 allows for in-play betting on a section of their virtual sports. As hinted out earlier in this review, you can place in-play bets on virtual soccer, and virtual tennis matches only. For these two categories, the markets were open throughout the games. You will realise some of these betting options will get deactivated along the way, basically based on how the game plays out.
For you the virtual races, the markets were closed at an interval of about 5 seconds to the start of the races. As such, you can only place pre-match bets before the races start. This applies to all the virtual races.
Mobile betting on Virtual Sports
Being the market leader that they are, I sought to confirm if the Bet365 virtual sports are available on mobile platforms. To my delight, all these virtual sports are easily accessible on the go either via the mobile site version or the downloadable Android and iOS apps.
One thing I noticed is there are multiple Bet365 apps available for download. The reason for this is that rather than developing a one-stop betting app, Bet365 instead developed separate apps for the poker room, online casino, and sportsbook. As it is the case with the website version, the virtual sports are hosted under the sportsbook category. The same logic applies with the downloadable apps as you will find the virtual sports in the sportsbook app.
I downloaded the Android version of the app the games were loading quite well. Actually, in comparison with using the mobile site version, the downloadable app gives a better interface and better graphics for the simulated videos. Another advantage I noticed is that the mobile app consumes less mobile data while streaming the live virtual sports, as compared to the mobile site version.
Payment methods
The banking options are as important as the quality of games offered by an online casino or sportsbook. While trying out the virtual sports, I also took time to view if I will be limited to specific payments methods. To the contrary, deposits and withdrawals from the virtual sports are processed through the same payment methods as the other betting categories.
Here I had a good number of payment options to use which include direct bank deposits, e-wallets, and online banks. The time it takes to process deposits and withdrawals varies depending on the payment method used.
FAQs
Can I cancel or modify a bet on virtual sports?
No, once a bet is confirmed, you cannot cancel nor modify it.
Can I be sure that the outcomes of virtual sports are fair?
The results from each virtual sport are computed by a Random Number Generator. This is a computer algorithm that randomly calculates outcomes based on different scenarios. A good and trustworthy online gaming platform make public the audit logs of their RNG systems. For transparency purposes, Bet365 readily avails these records of the audits done by eCogra in line with UK gambling regulations.
Can I withdraw my winnings on virtual sports?
Yes, with virtual sports, only the games are unreal, but the wins are actual. You can withdraw your wins or use it to play elsewhere on the Bet365 site.
I’m unable to launch the virtual sports streams on my mobile site. What should I do?
You first need to check if your mobile browser supports flash video content. Although the mobile site works quite well with most mobile browsers, a few could give you problems loading the content. Some of the recommended browsers to use here include Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
I lost internet connection while streaming virtual sports. Will this affect my bet?
No, provided you had confirmed your bet, your internet connectivity will not affect the game’s outcome. The game will play normally and the results published. Once you log back in, you can check your betting history to see if you won.
How does the Each Way bet in the virtual races work?
An Each Way bet combines two bet outcomes; a win and a place finish. With most of the virtual races offered by Bet365, you will get this betting option. Your bet wins if the horse emerges first or features in either the first 2 or 3 positions, depending on the Each Way rules set for that particular race.
Will I get any welcome or introductory offers at the Bet365 virtual sports?
No, Bet365 does not offer any welcome bonuses for the virtual sports section. You can still use some of the other rewards on offer, but you need first to check if they apply to virtual sports and their wagering requirements.
Do virtual sports need any additional software to play on my PC?
Not really, all you need to have is a browser that is flash enabled. However, if your browser does not support flash streaming content, you will get a prompt to either download and install a flash player such as Adobe or upgrade to an updated browser version.
Conclusion and Rating
Bet365 has without a doubt in many areas of online betting, especially in their sports betting section. This success is however not reflected with their virtual gaming platform. The layout of the virtual sports home page is okay, and the arrangement of the sports is quite great. The issue is mainly with the content offered.
What I didn’t like most is the quality of the graphics which is not up to standard with what major competitors offer. The animations tend to be blurry and not as rich in colour. Also, the embedded video screen is not resizable. There is also little creativity during the start of the races to give a more realistic feel.
What saves the day for Bet365 is the variety of betting markets available in the virtual sports section. This is especially so with virtual football and horse races which give players numerous betting options. This earns Bet365 some extra points.
Rating: 8/10
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