Onchan entrepreneur and racing enthusiast Vincent Caldwell has launched a new ’niche’ virtual live racing product for punters in America.
The new concept features fully rendered replicas of real racetracks, graphics and results based on historical race data in partnership with leading American racetrack venues.
Mr Caldwell says Virtual Live Racing is a ’global first’ because races are based on anonymised and encrypted data from real-life thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races - a huge leap forward compared to RNG (Random Number Generator) products currently offered by other businesses.
Business News first revealed Mr Caldwell’s plans last year.
He said a number of tracks are now live including Derby Lane and Tampa Bay Downs in Florida. Five other tracks are signed and are soon to be launched, including Hawthorne in Chicago and Parx in Philadelphia.
Virtual Live Racing has been created by Isle of Man-based company Virtual Software which has a track record of innovation in digital product development for the pari-mutuel or fixed odds betting industries.
Chairman Mr Caldwell is one of the first e-gaming pioneers. He started one of the world’s first online wagering companies, betinternet - licensed in the Isle of Man, which then went on to become the first such company to list on the London Stock Exchange.
The product is available to all tote systems in the US via distribution through Amtote International’s Spectrum betting system which is the leading technology tote provider in the USA which enables tracks to accept wagers from players and create a new risk-free revenue stream.
The launch of VLR is the result of several years’ hard work by their highly-experienced executive team which, along the way, has led to some truly historic milestones for the industry.
Most notably these include a State of Oregon Legislature Senate Bill which made history by granting regulatory approval for virtual racing products.
Mr Caldwell told Business News: ’While virtual racing products operate in over 40 countries and are very much a mainstream wagering product with billions of dollars bet on them each year, we have identified a niche opportunity for a unique product.’
He added that he and his team have developed a product ’deployed to deliver horse, harness and greyhound racing with high-quality graphics and animations.
’Unlike other products, our technology ensures that a racetrack’s intellectual property in the form of historic race data is anonymised and encrypted so outcomes cannot be known prior to the race being run.
’We believe that Virtual Live Racing products, which are built on a pari-mutuel wagering model, have a massive potential because it allows market access into an existing $11billion USA pari-mutuel wagering market, and other access points into international regulated racing markets valued at $100billion.’
VLR’s executive team includes Dave Mousley, chief creative officer, and Angus Wood, chief software architect.
Isle of Man-based Mr Mousley, of Island Broadcasting Media Limited, was the co-founder of Red Vision which created the world’s first major virtual racing products.
Mr Caldwell is a horse racing enthusiast and has owned a number of horses.
Poormans Hill, trained by Irish trainer Gordon Elliott, won the Ulster National at Downpatrick two years ago.
Vincent Caldwell, second left, with his wife Maneerat (Annie), left, Irish racing trainer Gordon Elliott and his travelling head girl
We have identified a niche opportunity for a unique product