Entain has built upon its alliance with Verizon Media by creating a virtual reality (VR) “sports club” entertainment experience which will pilot later this year.
Available on the Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset, customers will be able to explore a range of VR sports games both individually and within groups.
“We continually offer our customers a wide range of innovative and exciting experiences, and VR is an exciting opportunity for us to innovate in new ways,” said Sandeep Tiku, Chief Operating Officer of Entain.
“The aim is to mix sports, entertainment and different types of immersive play in one product, giving customers a great mix of new, exciting stuff to enjoy.”
The VR experience, which Entain noted is the ‘first of its kind’, will also enable customers to live stream football matches, build fantasy line-ups and play a range of different sports games.
Customers will also be offered ‘immersive experiences’ with music and bands – a concept which reflects Entain’s commitment to ‘lead a new generation of interactive sports and entertainment’.
Tiku added: “We know consumers are looking for more multi-dimensional experiences, in which the ability to place a bet is only one of the ways they want to enjoy themselves.
“So we want to wow them and give them better experiences than they’ve ever had before – and at the same time also use our cutting edge technology to keep our players safe.”
The launch of the VR experience comes alongside the further development of Entain’s Advanced Responsibility and Care (ARC) strategy, which will move player protection from being reactive to a more personalised, proactive approach to safer gambling.
Initially launched in November 2020, ARC draws upon ‘behavioural play data’ to secure the industry’s most effective end-to-end customer protections and interactions by ‘providing new levels of protection and safeguards to every customer based on their personal risk profile’.