History of Slots

Slots are the ultimate gambling machines. When a person imagines a casino, one of the first pictures that come to mind are slot machines with their bright flashing lights and the money rolling into the coin tray. Slots are coin-operated machines which generally have three or more reels that spin around when a lever is drawn. The game is played by spinning the wheel and payouts are made according to the symbols which are aligned once the wheels stop rotating. Casinos generally offer two types of slots: straight slots and progressive slots. Straight slots pay out a pre-determined amount with every spin while progressive slots have a jackpot which increases after every lever-pull.

Slots are one of the only casino games that do not have their roots in medieval times. The first slot-type machines were actually developed in 1891, in Brooklyn, New York by Sittman and Pitt Company. These machines were made up of drums which contained fifty card faces. The machine was based on the ever-popular poker game and payouts were according to poker hand rankings. These machines were usually placed in bars or saloons and did not afford players proper cash payouts - the prizes were items such as a free drink from the bar, tobacco or a cigar. These slot-type machines were an instant hit and within no time they were found in almost every town around the country.

Charles Fey developed the first modern-day slot machine, from his workshop in San Francisco in 1887. Fey has been named the father of modern slot machines and his first creation was called Liberty Bell. This machine was smaller in size than today’s slot machines, but still consisted of 3 reels and 20 symbols. Liberty Bell became an instant hit and Fey had to undertake mass-production in order to fulfill orders. As a wise businessman, Fey did not sell the machines but rather hired them out to gambling establishments, taking a 50% commission cut. Fey managed to remain sole proprietor for almost a decade but eventually he joined up with the Mills Novelty Company and they created their own version of the original machine known as the Mills Liberty Bell. The differences between the machines were that Mills Liberty Bell was set in a cast iron case; it had a ringing bell when a winning combination was struck and had royalty card faces on the display.

In 1910 the Mills Novelty Company developed a smaller version of the Bell machine and named it Operator Bell, and following its fame, the company began producing 30,000 units in a short span of time. The machines’ covers were later changed to wood and in the 1930s further cosmetic changes were made which propelled the slot machines into the forefront of the casino– the ringing bells were removed to create quieter machines; a double jackpot was introduced to facilitate higher payouts; colorful and unique cabinet covers were created.

The 1940s were the height of slot machine popularity following their introduction in Bugsy Siegel’s Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton and were soon located in every gambling establishment in the country’s casino Mecca. In the 1950s, electro-mechanical machines brought changes to the industry and machines such as Big Bertha and Super Big Bertha were awarded the casinos’ front line. These slot machines were able to handle a larger volume of coins and therefore produced increased payouts.

Sircoma pioneered the computerized era of slot machines with the production of the first video poker slot machine. At first the computerized machines were greeted with apprehension because players could not see what was going on behind the screen. These feeling ultimately gave way to excitement and trust and the machines also became a great hit.

Today, slot machines are extremely popular in casinos around the globe, especially the progressive slot machines through which players can fulfill their dreams of becoming instant millionaires. As popular as slots are in land casinos, they are even more popular in the online format. Software providers created a wealth of different slot machine games to be played online and linked these up to machines across cyber-space allowing players to build up mini-fortunes through progressive machines instantaneously. The ability to win hundreds of thousands of dollars from only a few dollars’ deposit is not rare in the world of slots, so it is no wonder that this machine has enjoyed only success in its short history.