Sigma Derby Moving to Golden Gate, Parade Will Feature Little People and Ponies
A beloved horse racing slot machine, Sigma Derby, is moving from The D to Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas.
Sigma Derby’s move happens June 16 at 10:00 a.m., accompanied by a parade along Fremont Street with all the pomp, circumstance and irreverent silliness you’d expect from owner Derek Stevens, a modern-day P.T. Barnum but with better suits.
It’s hard to overstate the fanaticism of Sigma Derby devotees. Technically, Sigma Derby is a slot machine, but it’s much more than that. It’s an only-in-Vegas vibe that just happens to feature a miniature horse track, complete with tiny horses and jockeys. Those will be in plentiful supply at the Sigma Derby parade. Little people and Shetland ponies will be part of the hoopla. We are not making this up.
First, some context.
If you haven’t heard of Sigma Derby, you might not be Vegas enough.
Sigma Derby was developed by Japan’s Sigma Game Inc. and appeared on casino floors starting in 1985. It is an electro-mechanical game with five horses, 10 betting stations, 30 seconds to place bets, a roughly one-minute race and quinella-style wagering on which two horses finish first and second, in either order.
The Sigma Derby machine at The D is one of the few functioning games of its kind left in the world. MGM Grand had a Sigma Derby, but it was sent to the glue factory in 2018.
The D’s machine was sourced after a long search, had reportedly been out of commission for more than a decade, was completely restored and became part of The D’s vintage second-floor casino around the casino’s 2012 rebrand from Fitzgeralds. No, “Fitzgeralds” doesn’t have an apostrophe. Have you learned nothing from Caesars?
The D’s Sigma Derby was originally at the New Frontier.
Sigma Derby is, to put it simply, a pain in the ass. It costs a fortune to keep this old-timey machine operational. One of the reasons it’s still around is Derek Stevens has a personal attachment to the game. It was his first-ever Las Vegas wager when Sigma Derby was at the Dunes.
Sigma Game Inc. is long gone, so keeping the machine alive requires specialized (and creative) technicians and hard-to-find parts. Stevens and his team at The D have at times resorted to buying parts on eBay and picking up inoperable machines whenever possible to cannibalize parts.
To say the least, Sigma Derby isn’t your ordinary slot machine.
It’s world famous, at least in part due to an appearance on “Pawn Stars.” In 2016, Stevens went through the motions of putting his Sigma Derby up for sale, but no deal was made. Stevens never intended to sell his precious machine, so even if the “Pawn Stars” guys had paid him the asking price of $80,000, being on the show was a publicity stunt, not a real attempt to sell. The bottom line: Rick Harrison didn’t pony up.
Shame on “Pawn Stars” for putting an apostrophe in “Caesars.” Don’t get us started.
The point is, Stevens is a master of getting news coverage. Recently, he arranged to have the iconic “Crazy Girls” statue on display at Circa. He was also the man behind the Manneken Pis statue at The D that’s been tinkling near the casino’s porte cochere since September 1, 2015.
Flash forward to today, and Sigma Derby is about to get a new address: 1 Fremont Street.
We can only speculate about why Sigma Derby is being moved, but it’s likely Golden Gate needs some additional love following the removal of its live table games a few months ago.
The place is packed during the nightly open bar and free play giveaway (6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.), but business falls off dramatically the minute the open bar ends.
Sigma Derby is a destination slot machine, and Stevens is looking to make the most of that fact.
Sigma Derby is a group game, like craps. It’s communal, and there are 10 seats around the tiny racetrack.
Golden Gate has tried to amp up the energy with louder music, but that’s had mixed results.
One of Sigma Derby’s big selling points is the cost of entry is 25 cents. It’s a cheap form of entertainment, especially if one takes advantage of the free beverages.
Sigma Derby is utterly unique, just like Golden Gate, one of the town’s oldest casinos.
There are other, newer versions of Sigma Derby, but they suck by comparison. Konami’s Fortune Cup is a slicker, modern horse racing game. It has more technology. It is also not Sigma Derby.
People are going to seek it out. Now, they’ll play at Golden Gate.
We’ve heard rumblings of some additional offerings that will be rolled out at Golden Gate when the Sigma Derby moves, but haven’t heard the specifics yet.
What will the impact of the move be for The D? Minimal. The D’s second floor started as a throwback casino. For some time, many of the machines on that upper level were coin-operated. But those machines have gone away. Again, pain in the ass. There’s still some retro music, and the Blarney stone, but that’s about it for nods to the past at The D.
Sigma Derby is a better fit at Golden Gate. It’s a bridge between old games and the ETGs (electronic table games) that replaced the petite casino’s live table games.
Sigma Derby is not a major money-maker for Stevens, but that isn’t the point, it’s part of its allure. Sigma Derby is messy and inconvenient. It takes up valuable space. It requires lots of care and attention. It attracts low rollers, not the whales much of Las Vegas is catering to now.
Sigma Derby is a testament to the fact that not every square foot should be optimized within an inch of its life.
If it seems like we’re talking a lot about the lore of Sigma Derby, rather than the specifics of the move to Golden Gate from The D, your reading comprehension has not failed you. The details haven’t been officially announced yet. Details are expected on June 8, 2026. We aren’t very good at waiting for news releases.
Trust us. Just show up for the parade.
Sigma Derby is an unusual game and the relocation will be unusual as well, guaranteed.
It’s a breath of fresh air that Stevens and his team are having a little fun. You think Tilman Fertitta or Barry Diller are hiring little people and Shetland ponies to promote moving their slot machines around? That’s a rhetorical question. They are not. Omnia recently hosted a motorcycle jump over some shrubbery. Yawn. Did that keep little people employed during the long dry spell between St. Paddy’s Day and Christmas? (Portraying leprechauns and elves gets old.) Did it keep any Shetland ponies shod? We have a nearly unlimited supply of rhetorical questions, by the way.
We have been assured every necessary step is being taken to not break the Sigma Derby machine during its relocation. We’ll still have our fingers crossed.
Following the relocation, Sigma Derby will be operational again by Friday, June 19, 2026.
Bring quarters. This grizzled casino warhorse doesn’t accept these newfangled TITO vouchers.
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