Novomatic, 1/ST Technology Announce HRR Game Partnership

Gaming tech firm Novomatic and 1/ST Technology, a division of US horse racing titan The Stronach Group, have joined forces to provide Novomatic historic horse racing games (HHR).

Historic horse racing has become a revenue lifeline for the US horse racing industry, where admissions and revenue from live racing have slowly declined over the past two decades.

Novomatic’s new PariMAX HHR game has a slot-style feature

The Novomatic-1/ST partnership will produce slot-style games for Stronach’s US operations. Traditionally, HHR terminals allow players to bet on past horse races.

However, over the past few years, “HHR” games have expanded to include slot-style games based on parimutuel betting. In other words, you bet on a horse race that has already happened, but the outcome of your bet takes place through a slot experience.

So, instead of watching horses race around a track, you watch slot reels spin. As 1/ST Technology puts it, “The graphical animations and sounds simply communicate the outcome of the underlying historical races.”

Additionally, the games are based on parimutuel odds, which means your bet is pooled together with other bets and paid out based on what was collectively bet.

In a Novomatic Americas press release, CEO Rick Meitzler said his company is “pleased” to ink a deal with PariMAX, 1/ST Technology’s HHR platform:

“We are pleased to work with PariMAX to be able to offer our library of games to new customers, through the historical horse racing platform. This fantastic partnership will enable us to open new markets as well as to grow our business in this segment.”

Partnership has plans to expand beyond the US

Novomatic will launch its titles in the US for now, pending the usual regulatory and corporate hurdles. However, the company noted it plans to “pursue other markets outside the US.”

The two companies certainly have the experience to launch a bigger operation.

Novomatic, which is based in Switzerland, is a formidable gaming company. It has more than 24,000 employees and operates in 2,100 venues across 50 countries.

It provides cabinets, slot titles, and progressive titles to companies like 1/ST Technology, which then launch the games in their markets. Some of Novomatic’s popular titles include Diamond Cash: Mighty Santa, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Diamond Cash: Mighty Elephant.

1/ST Technology has a global portfolio of partners that includes: