Product: Virtual Tennis
Manufacturer: Inspired Gaming Group

Inspired Gaming Group, the world’s leading supplier of virtual sports products to in-shop, online and mobile betting platforms, has launched the industry’s first “Virtual Tennis” product. The new addition will join a wide portfolio of sports already available from Inspired, including horse racing, football, motor racing and cycling.

Inspired uses motion-capture techniques from the TV and film industry to achieve graphically advanced virtual sports content. The 12-month development process for Virtual Tennis involved a large team of engineers who filmed two of Britain’s leading tennis players in a specially designed venue. The venue housed 60 cameras to capture every individual movement made by the players, and the motion-capture data was then used to create the true-to-life animated players seen in the final product.

The company developed Virtual Tennis to include an in-run betting option. A previously unseen addition to virtual sports, this follows the trend of live betting and allows customers to place set and match bets during play. The odds will vary throughout the match, reflecting the previous results of the game.

Events vary from indoor to outside courts, clay, grass and hard-court surfaces, and weather conditions including sunny, overcast and floodlit. As with all of Inspired’s Virtual Sports products, the courts can be customized with operator branding, and the product is available in over 16 languages.

The decision to develop Virtual Tennis is a result of the increasing worldwide demand for virtual sports betting and the popularity of tennis as a live sports betting event. Three of the top 10 online sportsbooks have already signed up for Virtual Tennis.

For more information, contact Ian.Fiddeman@ingg.com or Lucy.Buckley@ingg.com, or call +44 (0)20-7438-5800.

By Frank Legato

Frank Legato is editor of Casino Connection and also editor of Global Gaming Business magazine. He has been writing on gaming topics since 1984, when he launched and served as editor of Casino Gaming magazine. Legato, a nationally recognized expert on slot machines, has served as editor and reporter for a variety of gaming publications, including Public Gaming, IGWB, Casino Journal, Casino Player, Strictly Slots and Atlantic City Insider. He has an B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in communications from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of the recently published book on gaming, How To Win Millions Playing Slot Machines... Or Lose Trying.