Legal Virtual Horse Racing Betting

Wagering on virtual horse racing sims is exclusively available only at the best offshore sportsbooks, alongside their other virtual sports betting offerings. Like those, horse racing sims are entirely computerized and randomized using certified RNG (random number generation) software from the best brands in the industry, so your horse – and your bets – will never come up lame.

If you want to learn more about how to bet on virtual horse races, our brief guide explains the details of the pastime, where you can find the best lines and odds, and how you can join safely, legally, and quickly to enjoy your days – and nights! – at the best virtual horse racing tracks online. Saddle up, amigo – It’s gonna be a smooth ride!

Is It Legal To Bet On Virtual Horse Racing?

In America, it is legal to bet on virtual horse racing simulators, but only if you use an offshore racebook site to do so. While horse racing laws are different from sports betting laws and casino laws in the US, none of the above has actually accounted for virtual horse betting. While that may change in the future, right now, the only legal option is to use a reputable offshore operator like those listed here.

Note: Residents of WA are nominally barred from all forms of online gambling, though the laws are apparently not enforced, and we’re not aware of a single resident in either state being cited, fined, or arrested for online horseplay. Still, if you live in Washington and want to bet on the virtual ponies, you must do so only at your own risk.

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Virtual Horse Racing Explained

When you bet on virtual horse racing online, the process is slightly different from how betting works in horse racing proper. That’s because the game itself is different. Traditional horse racing involves real horses, jockeys, tracks, and various other things (i.e. weather conditions, horse health, etc.) that factor into the sport.

Virtual horse racing, on the other hand, has no real-world influence and is 100% simulated and computer-controlled according to strict RNG parameters. The horses do not reflect real-life horses, so you won’t find the likes of American Pharoah or Justify in the stables. In this way, virtual horse racing is like a horse-themed lottery that allows players to make traditional horse bets and horse racing picks.

Additionally, the horse racing schedule is comparatively condensed, with races being held every 4-5 minutes, all day long, 24/7/365. While a champion racehorse might only compete a dozen times in their career, these virtual horses are running nonstop for years on end. Only Secretariat could keep up with that!

Virtual Horse Racing Odds And Lines

If you know how to place bets on the Kentucky Derby or other horse racing events, you’ll know how to wager on virtual horse racing, as the same kinds of lines and wager types are available.

There is only one key difference to consider between horse racing sims and the real thing when it comes to betting, and that’s the fact that real horse racing uses a pari-mutuel or pool-based model. This means that when you place your bet, you won’t know the exact winning ratio until all betting closes. When the odds shift, so does your payout potential.

Virtual racing, however, usually uses fixed odds, so you know exactly how much you stand to win, no matter what. That said, some virtual betting sites may use pari-mutuel style wagering, shifting their lines and payouts accordingly. Each online racebook is different, so we recommend joining several and shopping around for the best lines and most favorable horse racing sim experiences.

Types Of Horse Racing Bets

There are two primary types or categories of horse racing betting odds: straight bets and exotic bets. We briefly describe these below, but there are so many horse racing betting strategies out there that for a full tutorial, you’ll have to do a bit of studying.

Virtual Straight Bets – Straight bets simply require you to pick a horse you think will Win, Place, or Show. A Win bet means your specific horse must win the race. A Place bet means that your chosen horse can finish in first or second. A Show bet means that your horse can finish in first, second, or third. These are also called WPS bets for short.

Virtual Exotic Bets – Horse racing exotics are all parlays, or multi-horse bets. The most popular are Exactas (pick the first-place and second-place finishers in order), Trifectas (pick the first three finishers in order), and Superfectas (pick the first four finishers in order). There are other exotics, too, and your sportsbook will have all these as options under the race tab in their Virtual Sports sections.

You can also box your bets in horse racing. This is basically a way to pick all possible outcomes for an exotic bet on one ticket. Say you want to bet on a Trifecta, but you want to give yourself some wiggle room. To do this, you can box the three horses so they don’t have to win in order, they merely have to win the first three positions in any order.

Further, you can box four, five, or even six or more horses into a Trifecta or Superfecta box, increasing you chances even more. Boxed bets cost more than regular wagers, but if you hit on one, it can be more than worth it.

Mobile Betting On Simulated Horse Racing

If you’re looking for a virtual horse racing betting app on the App Store or in Google Play, you won’t find one. These storefronts don’t allow real-money mobile gambling apps from offshore operators, and no domestic operators have horse racing sims in their portfolios.

However, you don’t need a special iPhone horse betting app or Android racebook app. Instead, all you need is a mobile device, an Internet connection, and a membership at one of the sites listed here. Their mobile interfaces work with everything on offer, so you can wager on the electro-ponies while they – and you! – are on the go, anywhere in America. These connections are encrypted and secure, and there’s never anything to download or update. So git along, little dogie!

Live Betting On Virtual Horse Races

Live betting, as it is traditionally understood in the sports betting world, is often not in play for virtual sports, since the events are condensed and over in mere minutes.

However, live betting has never been possible for legal horse racing betting, as the pari-mutuel betting system – and the brevity of the event itself – doesn’t allow for in-game bets. All wagers must be in before the horses start their runs, and that’s as true in the online virtual space as it is in the real world.

However, at many racebooks (like Bovada, our top choice for virtual horse racing wagering), you can actually watch the races “live” right on the site via a video player embedded above the odds. These simulated races have video game-like graphics, and they even have real (if somewhat generic) announcing. This is great for extra immersion, and it’s a feature you can only expect from the very best horse racing betting sites.

Historical Horse Racing Vs. Virtual Horse Racing

Many people might confuse virtual horse racing with Historical Horse Racing, or HHR. This is also called Instant Racing, and it uses an interesting legal approach to get around typical gambling classifications in most states. Pragmatically, virtual horse races and Instant Racing events play out the same way and are equally difficult to handicap for an edge, but there are technical differences to be aware of.

Historical Horse Racing machines are available across the US, in bars, cardrooms, and Class II casinos. These are not technically gambling games, as they use defined historical data in all of their races. Basically, Instant Racing machines take decades of horse racing results from tracks nationwide, strip away all identifying markers (horse names, jockey names, years, sites, weather, etc.), and then bettors wager on the outcomes. Since the races play out identically to their real-world counterparts, they are not random in any way and are thus not “gambling” by definition.

Virtual racing, of course, doesn’t use any historical data and isn’t based on real-life horses, tracks, or other details. The games are driven (ridden?) purely by the RNG software that governs their parameters, and bettors make their picks according to the odds (which is the only real clue to the strengths and weaknesses of the horses in question).

Virtual Horse Racing FAQs

Is horse racing simulation software legit?

If you use the sites listed here, you can be sure that their horse racing simulator RNG software is not only legitimate, but that it’s regularly audited by third parties for fair iGaming compliance.

In other words, your simulated horse racing results will always be properly and fairly randomized, and you can rest easy knowing that no human interference is ever pressing a thumb down on any scales for the house. Your racebook doesn’t know who’s going to win, either, and they’re taking the same bet as you, every time!

What is the best bet in horse racing sims?

Honestly, there isn’t one.

In real horse racing where you can go to a track and handicap the animals, it’s easy (or easier) to make the smartest horse racing bets. Indeed, most horse racing betting strategies implore horseplayers to get up close and personal with the racers and the venues in order to make the most informed wagers.

But when it comes to how to win virtual horse racing events, there’s really no way to get a real edge. These are totally randomized with no historical data to draw from, so you’re effectively playing a fun horse lottery. And frankly, there’s nothing wrong with that!

Is virtual horse racing humane?

Some people believe that horse racing is cruel, but there are advocates for both sides. And as opposed to greyhound racing (which is also available in simulated form at the best legal betting sites), horses are expensive investments that owners take tremendous pride in.

Still, if you are opposed to live horse racing (particularly Santa Anita horse racing, as that track has been a disaster in the horse racing deaths department over the last few years and should probably have its operations suspended until the course is redesigned), you don’t have to feel guilty betting on horse racing sims. No animals were harmed in the making of this virtual betting software!

What are 3D virtual horse racing games?

These can best be described as VR horse racing titles.

While virtual reality hasn’t yet hit the mainstream, the cost of entry is getting lower and products are becoming more refined. In a short time, VR sports – and VR sports betting, including VR horse racing betting – will be commonplace.

Until then, however, 3D virtual horse racing is limited strictly to the video game realm, where there is no real money to be wagered or won.

What is the virtual horse racing loophole?

The so-called virtual horse racing loophole could be one of two things.

At brick-and-mortar venues in the US, this applies to the clause in the law that allows for Instant Racing (HHR) as described above. Online at offshore racebooks, the “loophole” is simply that none of these operators are barred from accepting US customers, and no US customer is prevented by law from accessing them and wagering real money.

Neither of these things are really loopholes in the classic sense because they are both the results of complete compliance with domestic US law as written.

What are the best virtual horse racing betting games?

Every site uses different horse racing game software for their virtual racebooks, and our favorite may not be your favorite. We prefer the experience at Bovada over all others, but these others are also excellent, and you can’t really go wrong with any of them.

So visit the virtual racebooks above, shop around, and choose the best option for you. Or make it an Exacta or Trifecta and join two or three different sites at once!

Where can I watch virtual horse racing?

Normal horse racing on TV is already hard to come by, and virtual horse racing is even tougher to find through mainstream entertainment options.

However, you can find plenty of virtual horse racing game streams on Twitch and other similar services, though there is no betting attached to these.

For wagering purposes, the best place to watch horse race sims is online at the virtual sportsbook hosting them.

Are there free virtual horse racing options at offshore sites?

No. Unfortunately, you cannot play free virtual horse racing games online at offshore betting sites. While some sites may offer free blackjack or free video poker in their Casino sections, Virtual Sports is a sportsbook product, and you’ve got to pay to play.

That said, you don’t have to pay to watch the real-time betting lines and simulated horse race videos at most sites, so you can visit any operator and observe the titles on offer before signing up or depositing.

What types of virtual horse racing are offered at legal offshore sportsbooks?

While the type of racing is undefined, the online options seem limited to what would be Thoroughbred racing in real life. The tracks are all short, as well, as they seem to be about 9-10 furlongs (1.125-1.25 miles) in length.

You will not find virtual American Quarter Horse racing, standardbred racing, harness horse racing, or steeplechase racing at these sites, as Thoroughbred betting – in real life and in cyberspace – is far more popular.