What is historical horse racing and how does it work for sports bettors?

Three Wichita-area developers are competing for the opportunity to build a facility featuring 1,000 historical horse racing machines in Sedgwick County.

Historical horse racing machines resemble slot machines and allow bettors to select horses in previously-run races based off of their track record.

“You place your wager based on a past historical horse race. There’s thousands in the database,” said Randy Evans, government relations manager for the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission. “On the menu of the screen, you will be able to pick a race that was run at some time in the past.”

Three developers compete to provide historical horse race betting in Sedgwick County

Bettors won’t know the horse or jockey’s name, the date of the date of the race or the track it was run on.

“You will have a horse number. For instance, horse number 2,” Evans said. “You will be able to see how horse number 2 has performed in the past in other horse races.”

Once that’s done, the game starts. You push the button, pull the handle and the reels spin. A screen on the machine will then show a video of approximately the last 10 seconds of the horse race, Evans said.

According to Gaming Labs International, historical horse racing accounts for $10 billion in annual wagering in the U.S.

The racing and gaming commission is currently evaluating applications for the Sedgwick County facility, which is sanctioned under the sports betting law approved last year. Evans said he expects KRGC to hold hearings over the summer for the three applicants to present information about how big their proposed facilities would be, what amenities they would feature and how much they would cost.