Vision of the betting future is an endless virtual rat race

George Orwell, the 20th-century literary Eeyore whose work less young readers might recall, wrote in one of his least sunny moods that "if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever".

That seems not quite so close now but it remains powerful in its simplicity.

If you visited the Ice Totally Gaming exhibition (it's Ice, but it's not cool) at ExCeL in London this week you might have seen a similarly powerful and simple picture of the future. It's the slightly bald patch on the top of the virtual Rafael Nadal's head.