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Sport
Though “We live in an era of unprecedented global interest in live sports” (Impallomeni, 2015), only two viewing choices are available – TV or live. Now VR is looking to mix things up. “In today’s competitive world of sport it is essential to have an unbiased decision making technique” (Kotak & Nayak, 2014). In attempts to eradicate unfair decisions Tennis uses Hawk-Eye and Net-Cord sensor; Cricket uses Hot Spot and Snicko; Football uses Goal Line technology. Now the spectators are at the heart of technology, Virtual Reality is becoming more popular. William Hill is tapping into this market, but not just for viewing the spectacle – “It is estimated that in the UK about 350,000 people have a gambling addiction, with over £7bn spent annually” (BBC News Technology, 2015). There does seem to be a future for developing new VR technologies in the field of sport.
William Hill
William Hill, the International bookmakers, are using virtual reality to help increase levels of betting. They are targeting the younger customers as Jamie Hart (William Hill’s Innovation Chief) states "One of the problems we’re seeing with horse racing is that we’re seeing a swing away to football, tennis and other sports. It isn’t really in touch with young people." (Gosh, 2015). The creators of this VR experience state that “Get In The Race recreates live horse races, as they are happening, in virtual reality. The product pulls in real time data about the horse’s position, stride length and heart rate so that users can see a real race, in real time from their chosen jockey’s point of view” (Unit 9, 2015). Unit 9 was taken on board by William Hill as its innovation partner and so far a virtual racecourse, horses and jockeys have been created. The position of every horse in a race is recorded using GPS. The system uses Google Cardboard and an artificial horse to allow the user to be a “virtual jockey” throughout the race. William Hill hope that the system will be fully up and running sometime in 2016 for customers to try.
This video shows William Hill's VR proposition
Advantages
It could be said that VR is perfect for sports such as horse racing. The first advantage is the sheer enjoyment and engagement that will be achieved. People in their homes would be able to wear their headset and instantly be either alongside the racecourse watching or actually riding their horse. They can see every movement in a race much more clearly than normal cameras would show. It allows users to feel as though they were live at the races without actually having to travel anywhere – especially good if the user is unable to travel. Another great benefit is the reduction in costs as you wouldn’t have to pay travel or admission costs to see the races.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage would be the cost of buying the equipment needed to engage with the virtual environment. A headset allows them to see what the jockey sees, but a full artificial horse set up would be the only thing to give them the true experience. However, this would come at a large price and wouldn’t be something people would want in their homes permanently. Also, it would be very hard to convince avid horse racing fans not to go to live events as this is all part of the fun. Sitting at home just doesn’t have the same effect, no matter how immersive the virtual world is.
Verdict
Even though the latest advances in horse racing with regards to VR are much better than previous attempts, I still believe it to be far away from becoming mainstream. Equipment and development of the technology would be costly in William Hill’s 2300 betting shops. Watching horse racing through VR is a new and engaging way to become involved in the sport, but the bookmaker is more interested in increased betting turnover. I believe there is a future for this kind of technology in the sport market, but more for refereeing than viewing. Technologies mentioned earlier such as Hawk-Eye are a great feature that I believe have been a big step forward. However, I think VR in betting shops is just one step too far and an unnecessary expense – it is more of a novelty than a necessity.
This image is my representation of what William Hill's new VR experience will look like