The fate of the Sigma Derby mechanical horse-racing game is up there with the status of the Lady Luck and where the best place is to catch Strip fireworks displays in terms of QoD FAQs -- it's been the subject of no less than four (now five) Questions of the Day.
For those few remaining readers out there who don't know about Sigma Derby, it's one of those cult games that's beloved if its followers but a dinosaur that's been disappearing from casinos floors for years, to the point that there is only one remaining Sigma Derby machine in Las Vegas now, located near the race and sports book at the MGM Grand.
Despite a horrible house edge of 12%-15%, Derby was a popular game because, like craps, it's one of the few communal games on the casino floor and the minimum bet is only 25¢. Up to 10 people can play at any time and everyone sits around the miniature "track" as five mechanical horses compete in race after race. The only bet you can make is a "quinella," i.e., choosing which two horses would finish first and second, in either order.
Go back a decade or so and Derby was available in at least 10 casinos around Las Vegas, including the Hilton, Orleans, MGM Grand, New York-New York, Caesars Palace, Imperial Palace, Riviera, Bally's, New Frontier, Excalibur, and Luxor (which had racing camels instead of horses). One by one they disappeared, as did some of the casinos themselves -- during the course of this research, we heard on the grapevine that several of Las Vegas' old Derby machines were bought up by the MGM to use to use for parts to service its remaining game, since Sigma no longer offers any technical or mechanical support and the machines are basically antiques by this point.
Despite its disappearance, the game continues to exercise a romantic hold over its hardcore fans, although with only 320 votes, the official Save Sigma Derby Petition is a little shy of its 10,000-vote goal.
The official Facebook page remains vibrant, however, and is where we learned that a Sigma Derby machine sold on eBay earlier this year for no less than $24,500. It turns out that the buyer was the Royal River Casino & Hotel in Flandreau, South Dakota, which has had a Derby game for a decade or more and, like MGM Grand, bought up this other one for spare parts. The charming slot supervisor we spoke to there told us how to him, this 25¢ antique is basically a pain in the butt, but that the affection that people feel for it makes it worth their while keeping their game -- which is perhaps the most complete one structurally on any casino floor -- in playable condition.
Otherwise, the only other examples we know of in the U.S. are both to be found at the Montbleu resort-casino in Stateline, Nevada (we called to verify that they're still there).
Over the years, we heard stories (and even saw photographs) of the game in casinos as far and wide as Cyprus, Malaysia, Italy, Panama, Venezuela, Canada, and Japan (the latter two had a much fancier modern version called Sigma Derby VI), but have been unable to subsequently verify if any of the properties in question still carry Sigma Derby. If anyone else has any information, please pass it on.
