Amazingly, almost one in five bets on horse racing in Britain’s 8,700 betting shops are on horses that do not exist, virtual racing is now major business. Recently the bookmakers William Hill and Ladbrokes, surprised investors by revealing their takings had remained strong even though 75 race meetings have been cancelled this year due to bad weather.

Ladbrokes’ chief executive, Chris Bell, and William Hill’s boss, David Harding, agree that a reduction in the number of betting opportunities has greatly reduced their dependence on traditional horse and greyhound racing.

An increasing number of punters are turning to football and other sports, but the fastest growth area has been in fixed-odds virtual games, from touch-screen roulette slot machines to computer-generated horse races. Mr Harding said roulette machines, called fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which first appeared in shops six years ago, now account for a third of the take.

Virtual racing has also proved a hit. Once ridiculed as a concept that would never catch on, its growth has taken everyone by surprise. Two years ago bookmakers were taking £700m on the computer-generated races, beamed on to bookies’ TV screens like any other sporting event. Since then that figure is believed to have soared higher still.

Inspired supplies about 90% of the UK market for virtual racing. A year ago it bought out Red Vision, a company better known for CGI special effects, and is developing a next generation of virtual horseracing software. A prototype seen by the Guardian is so realistic that punters will strain to distinguish the computer-generated graphics from live racecourse images.

Mr Crowley claims FOBTs gaming machines and virtual racing are generating about 40% of profits for at least one major betting shop chain client, which he declined to name.

Source: Guardian