At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it felt like the whole industry was waiting and wondering if esports would finally jump into the spotlight, and become the betting product the sports betting industry always has hoped it would be. But one of the most surprising takeaways I’ve had from the SBC Digital Summit has been the sudden rise of virtual sports as a prominent betting product,

As I’ve thought about it, it makes so much sense. Virtual sports can emulate all of our favorite sports, it doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to a schedule, and it needs minimal explanation to the betting public. But as most of the industry still waits on live sports to resume, I’m wondering if there might be something to virtual sports that operations should seek to expand, and make a much bigger betting product out of it long term.

The origins of virtual sports

To better understand virtuals, I googled up the origins of sportsbetting, which took me to virtualsportsbetting.com. These games have been around since atleast the early 1970s with Derby Day, the Sega developed arcade machine that would reward players for betting on one of three horses.