- Hard Rock Bet is now offering a slots-like game that is based on historical NASCAR events.
- Historical horse racing is a similar form of sports betting, where players can bet on results of past races.
MIAMI – Hard Rock Bet launched a new form of sports betting, titled “Games” in late October that closely resembles traditional slots games. However, there has already been controversy as to whether or not the casino is actually following the law due to some gray areas in the framework of the game.
How Does It Work?
The distinction is that the games are “Powered by Past Motor Racing,” meaning the outcomes are not random, but rather derived from results of historical NASCAR events, similar to the concept of historical horse racing.
Players select the finishing order of the drivers, then watch the results play out. The more correct placements a player picks, the bigger the payout.
Payouts are based on the probability of each driver to finish in certain positions based on statistics that are provided to the player before the start of the wager.
Unlike traditional slots, players can see why / how a certain outcome occurred, whereas traditional slots simply rely on RNG (random number generator) to determine outcomes.
The Legal Side
Legal sports betting sites like Hard Rock Bet are prohibited from offering iGaming in Florida, so the distinction between sports betting and online casino games is important.
Hard Rock believes that this does indeed fall under the category of sports betting due to the fact that it is based on real-life results of sporting events.
A compact made in 2021 between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state allowed for the tribe to essentially have exclusive rights over legal sports betting in Florida.
In that compact, it is specifically stated that sports betting can refer to betting on both past and future sporting events, clearing an avenue for Hard Rock’s newest venture.
There has been some questioning as to whether or not Hard Rock has legal authority to use the names and numbers of NASCAR drivers from previous races, but it has already been determined that race results are factual information and therefore not copyrightable.
Historical horse racing (HHR) has been around for over 20 years now and is essentially the blueprint for Hard Rock’s new game. It will be interesting to see where they go from here, but it seems as though this online casino game is not going anywhere.
