Marcus Richards
As of April 3rd, 2020, the sportsbook landscape in Vegas was changed forever. As you probably know, the sportsbooks in Vegas are surrounded by real-life betting markets for a broad scope of sports like basketball, American football, and many other popular events from all over the world. We should probably draw emphasis to the words ‘real-life’ here, for all of the betting markets seen have always been on real events.
However, Nevada and indeed Las Vegas are now accepting sports bets on virtual NASCAR races, and it has already proved to be a hit with sports betting fans. Betting on virtual sports isn’t something new, but the fact that virtual NASCAR markets are now available in Vegas sportsbooks certainly is. We wanted to explore this exciting development in a bit more detail, which is why we have reported our findings in this short article.
Virtual NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is a privately-owned American auto racing company founded in 1948. Today NASCAR races are organized across the globe and without a doubt, the sports betting industry with streaming of live events combined with virtual events, has helped to put NASCAR on the global motorsports arena. When you are betting on virtual sport, you are effectively betting on a computer-simulated game. Of course, what you are witnessing on your screen is not real and the way that the game plays out is all based on the software fuelling the game. While the sport and games that you are betting on aren’t real, the odds and money that you can wager (and win) on these games are.
As we previously mentioned, virtual sports betting isn’t something new, for there are many virtual markets for sports like horse racing, soccer, basketball, and many more already in place. This is certainly far more popular in Europe however, but now it would seem that virtual sports betting is gaining traction in the USA. Specifically for virtual NASCAR betting, this is absolutely brand new, which makes it quite refreshing that you can now bet on these markets in Vegas sportsbooks.
Who determines the outcome?
This is quite an interesting question, and it isn’t really a matter of who determines the outcome, it is more a matter of what determines the outcome. Much like real-life sport, there will be some competitors that are more favored than others based on their form and ability, which is always reflected in the odds that you get. Now, virtual sports works exactly the same way, apart from a computer is calculating the favorite players and who is in form.
This will work exactly the same for virtual NASCAR racing, as there will be a computer system working behind the scenes to determine odds and favorite. In terms of the actual result, there will be a complex algorithm that will compute multiple factors together in order to determine the result. Just like regular sport, there is no guarantee with virtual NASCAR racing that the favorite will necessarily lift the trophy. This is why virtual sport can be just as exciting as a real sport, and virtual NASCAR racing has already proved to be a hit.
Is this really going to be a popular thing?
Betting on NASCAR is already big and virtual racing is getting popular due to the coronavirus lockdown on regular events. 1.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the virtual NASCAR race recently ‘held’ at the Texas Motor Speedway. As a matter of fact, this was the largest number of viewers that have ever tuned in for an esports event, so it would seem that virtual NASCAR racing is already a popular thing!
This race, as well as multiple others, will feature NASCAR drivers like William Byron, Garrett Smithy, and Timmy Hill, and you can get markets for all of these guys within the Vegas sportsbooks. It isn’t just Vegas sportsbooks that are getting in on this action either, for a major online sportsbook provider, DraftKings, also offered odds for this huge event just the other week.
Conclusion
Whether it is the lack of real sports competition going on right now due to the global pandemic, or whether it is a real trend that virtual sports are gaining popularity, the fact is that there are some very promising signs for virtual NASCAR racing. We would say that any virtual event that attracts more than 1 million viewers is something that shows real potential, and there are plans for multiple virtual NASCAR events to take place over the coming weeks.
Given that you can live stream all of these events through certain online sports betting sites, as well as access quite appealing odds for some of the races/drivers, we would say that virtual NASCAR racing is here to stay.
