10Bet’s Virtual Sports service is a somewhat smaller offering than you would find with our 
other affiliated site Betway. There are just three different Virtual Sports on offer, Virtual Greyhounds, Virtual Football and the sport we are focusing on today, Virtual Horse Racing.
It is clear that 10Bet’s approach to Virtual Sports has been to keep things as simple as possible for their Virtual Sports punters to enjoy, however that does have an impact on how realistic the games feel and the options available in each.
Let’s now take a closer look at how 10Bet’s Virtual Horse Racing offering shapes up by looking at the key information and bets available, how a typical three minute race unfolds and lastly, how it compares with a leading Virtual Horse Racing service, such as offered by Betway.
Virtual Horse Racing
Info
- Time Between Events – 3 Minutes
- Number of Runners – 10 Runners in every race
- Tracks : 1 – The track is not named
- Types: Flat Racing
- Time Split– 1.10 mins race preview/betting window – 1.50 minutes for the race & results.
Bets Available
- Race Winner
- Top 3 Finish
- Forecast
- Reverse Forecast
- Tricast
- Combination Tricast
- Accumulator (across multiple races)
- Multiple Selection bets (Patent, Trixie etc – across multiple races)
Highlights
10Bet take a very different approach to their Virtual Horse Racing product that Betway have done and there are some notable changes in approach from 10Bet.
First off, Betway has three different tracks and two different types of racing available (flat and jumps) not to mention a variation in the number of runners in each race. With 10Bet, everything is much more uniform. There is just one generic track that is not given a name, all races are flat races and in each race there are 10 horses competing to win.
Another big difference is that during the betting phase, there is no preview of the runners in the race as you get with other providers. With 10Bet, you simply see a greyed out screen with a message from the game developer shown on it. This may distract you less in the betting phase, so it is not altogether a bad idea, but it does detract a bit from the realism.
Also the lack of countdown timer on this part of the game is a real issue as you are never quite sure when the betting period will end, especially when you consider that your betting period is a little shorter in duration than on other Virtual Horse Racing games you can bet on.
During the betting period you have a decent selection of bets to pick from, again there are not quite as many as you find with other providers, but the main bets are all there and in truth, unless you really want to bet on some of the more obscure bets, you will find that 10Bet has all the different bets you need to enjoy Virtual Horse Racing.
However, with no timer shown, do remember to get your bets on quickly as that 70 seconds of time to place your bets can go very quickly.
Once the race is about to start, the grey screen turns into a colour shot of the stalls and what you will see now is pretty much the same race, over the same course, just with different horses each time. The graphics are the same as you would find on other comparable Virtual Horse Racing games (they use the same provider as Betway and bet365) but 10Bet haven’t personalised the course in the same way the other companies have.
The commentary is exactly the same as you get with the other providers too, where they use the number of the horses running to identify them rather than the name, a simple and easy trick to cut down on the amount of audio required to run a commentary.
For the race you can see at the bottom of the screen an indicator of where each of the 10 runners are in the race (which shifts as the horses change position in the race) and also a track indicator turns yellow as the horses make their way around the track towards the finish line, so you can see how far the horses have left to travel.
Once the race has been run, a replay of the finish is shown in slow motion with a freeze frame of the horses passing the finishing line used as the backdrop to display the results of the race. The results screen shows the odds of the horses, the return for a unit stake and the amount of money you would win for a unit stake bet on the tricast and forecast markets.
After a short time, the screen then turns grey and the game developers message is displayed once again as the betting period for a new race starts.
How does 10Bet Virtual Horse Racing compare to Betway?
In truth, 10Bet’s Virtual Horse Racing service is a somewhat pared down offering compared to the Virtual offering at Betway. At Betway, they have invested a bit more in creating more realism by naming the track, having races over fences as well as the flat and also having different numbers of runners and riders across the races.
This gives the Betway service a greater variation in betting options across races than you find at 10Bet, which has just one generic track and 10 runners in each race. Also with Betway, you can bet on up to 14 races in advance, with 10Bet you can only bet on five races in advance, which does impinge on any multiple selection bets you want to make.
The other big difference is that at Betway, you get a preview of the runners before the race, whereas with 10Bet, you are shown only a blank preview screen while you are in the betting phase of the Virtual Sport.
Essentially, 10Bet’s offering lacks the variation and some of the bets available with Betway’s service, but as a Virtual Horse Racing game, it has all the key ingredients and if you prefer uniform racing where you know the number of runners in each race will not change and the odds on the selections will be more uniform, then 10Bet’s service will suit you perfectly well.
However, if you prefer a more realistic approach to Virtual Horseracing, then you’ll be better served spending your money with Betway.
