What is HHR, or Historical Horse Racing Terminals?

Historical horse racing machines, also known as “instant racing,” are electronic gaming terminals that use past horse races to generate results.

Players feel like they’re playing slots, but technically, they’re betting on anonymized horse races that have already occurred (hence the term “historical”).

The terminal obscures the names and dates of the underlying races but provides a handicapping option so players can select the running order of horses they desire, just as they would at a live race.

However, most terminals offer a way for players to automate the selection process, so they end up playing a game that looks and feels just like a slot. When automated the games will automatically select the finishing order based on post time, or morning line odds the day the race was actually run.

The last few seconds of the race are displayed on a small part of the screen. The rest of the monitor displays reels and symbols to show the player what, if anything, they won off the spin.