SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Virtual sports developer Golden Race has launched its new football product ahead of the World Cup, with upgraded visuals and an enhanced betting experience designed to make it “feel more real for punters”.
Mirroring the format of its Russian hosted counterpart, the new offering is to see 32 nations split into eight groups, with knockout rounds and a final following.
The game is to be made available to African operators at no cost via a dedicated satellite channel, in addition to any retail outlet with the company’s Golden Race boxes.
Martin Wachter, Golden Race CEO, commented: “The World Cup is of global interest, but the time differences sometimes make it impossible for players to back their teams. Our new virtual game can provide a tournament every hour meaning that no matter where you are in the world, you can play your team in your time zone.”
The fully customisable Golden Race World Cup is capable of condensing the 60 game tournament into a period as short as 30 minutes, or up to one hour.
Group stages play out across six ‘matchdays’, where one match can be simulated onscreen, with concurrent matches represented in the live score format, with knock-outs having the option of penalties should they be required.
With a number of enhancements, Golden Race also details that performances of teams heading into the World Cup, in addition to current FIFA rankings, are also built into the game, adding to its realism.
Game architect Laurent Samani explained: “By using the FIFA rankings and actually observing the different skills of the teams, we have developed the game to feel real both on the pitch and in the betting interface.”
Featuring 21 betting markets, punters are aided by a number of key stats and summaries displayed before matches, as well as having most played markets displayed on screen.
Wachter added: “ This will be game of the year 2018. Everyone will be playing it during the World Cup and once that has finished they will still be playing long afterwards.That is why it is especially useful for operators as it gives their football customers something to bet on until the new season.”
