Despite the sim racing explosion over the last few years, it’s still relatively difficult to bet on driving games. You can easily bet on sim basketball, football, and hockey on most major betting sites. However, you most likely need to bet on Twitch streams or use an offshore betting site for driving games.
If you’re interested in offshore betting sites for sim sports, you can find great offshore sportsbook reviews here. The sites listed in this article are not only great for sim sports wagering, but also real sports betting.
How Do You Sign Up for Driving Game Wagering?
Once you’ve selected an offshore sportsbook or online casino to place your iRacing bet, you then need to create an account. For this, you’ll most have to come up with a username, set a password, and provide some personal information, such as your name and address.
Once your provided information has been verified, you’ll be able to start betting on iRacing. You may find that your new account comes with a free sign-up bonus. If this is the case, you can use this to place an immediate bet. If not, you’ll have to deposit some cash. Several sports wagering sites now accept crypto in addition to fiat currencies.
What Sim Driving Bets Can You Make?
Race winner is the most common bet type. If you select the winning race driver, you win the bet - it’s as simple as that. Just as with real race betting, the more money put towards a specific car, the shorter its odds become. There will typically be clear favorites that will score you less money as well as long-shot bets that could win you a significant amount of money.
You’ll likely encounter the alternative bet types, such as:
Outright winner bets
If the race you bet on is part of a wider competition, you can bet on who you think will win the competition overall. If you like long-term, risky betting, outright winner bets could be a good option for you.
Podium finish
If you place a podium finish bet on a racer, you’re betting on them finishing in the top 3. As long as your chosen racer is featured on the podium at the end of the race, you’ll win your bet - regardless of whether they’re in first, second, or third place.
Top five to finish
This is the next level up from a podium finish bet. If your chosen racer finishes in any of the top five positions, you’ll win. Top five-to-finish bets are only offered by bookies for big events with lots of racers.
Winning margin
A winning margin bet is when you guess the amount of time between the winner’s finishing time and the runner-up’s. For example, you could bet on there being a 5-second margin between the two racers.
Betting on Driving Games Through Twitch
In 2022, Twitch updated its policy to prohibit the streaming of betting sites that were unlicensed in the US. This was aimed at removing dice, slots, roulette, and any other chance-based games from the platform.
While this reduced the amount of gambling content available on Twitch, it didn’t prevent real gambling from taking place.
Many iRacing streamers have taken advantage of the lack of sim racing betting sites by offering the option to bet on races in the comment section of their streams. This includes Matt Malone, who has nearly 70K followers on the platform.
Before the race starts, viewers can comment wagering commands to place a bet. An example of a betting command would be “!bet win 200”. However, betting commands are unique to each streamer - you can normally find them on their About page.
Typically, you can bet on who you think will win, will finish in the top 5, will crash, and so on.
While this form of betting doesn’t involve real money, it can win you real prizes. Streamers normally give out rewards to those who win bets. For example, Matt Malone has been known to award winners with iRacing vouchers.
Final Thoughts
While it is possible to bet on iRacing, the activity is not as widespread as other forms of sim sports wagering. Some gambling sites offer the service - you can also find betting options on some iRacing Twitch streams.