Slot machines have been the most popular game at brick and mortar casinos since their invention over a hundred years ago, and the subsequent popularity of online slots only grows by the day.
Although the early day slot machines have now evolved into state-of-the-art and highly entertaining video slot machines that boast multiple reels, action-packed features, bonus rounds and huge jackpot prizes, the concept is still the same – spin the reels and wait for a win.
The First Slot Machine
The history of slot machines (short for nickel-in-the-slot machines) starts back in the 19th century when some of the first coin-operated gambling machines in the United States simply included a contraption where coins were inserted so that two toy horses would race. Generally located in bars and saloons, these early machines spurred wagering amongst patrons, although the machine wasn’t actually able to pay out coins.
Another of the first types of gambling devices was created by Sittman and Pitt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. Although very basic and based on poker, historians believe this gambling machine to be a precursor to the slot machines we see these days. This type of machine was made using five drums which held 50 card faces that would spin around when a nickel was inserted and a lever pulled. The hope was to land a good poker hand.
As with modern-day casinos, a house edge was built into this poker machine. Typically the ten of spades and jack of hearts cards would be removed from the deck to reduce a player’s chance of winning with a Royal Flush or other high hands. The drums could also be rearranged to increase the house edge and limit the chances of winning even more.
Beer & Cigar Payouts
There was no actual payout mechanism in the first gambling machines so players would often receive a free beer or cigars for a win on a gambling device, depending on the establishment where they were played.
Given the number of poker hands that could be made on the early poker-style slot machine, it was virtually impossible to create a slot machine that could award payouts for so many different combinations. So began the quest for much simpler gambling machines with an automated system of payment.
Coin Payouts
By 1888, slot machines that paid out coins started to be used, with coins falling into an internal balancing scale that would tip and spill winnings out.
First Slot Machine
At some time between 1887 and 1895, the first slot machines were invented by a mechanic called Charles Fey of San Francisco who created the “Liberty Bell” slot machine, with three spinning reels, five symbols and an automated payout system. The machine was named after the Liberty Bell symbol that appeared on the reels, alongside horseshoes, diamonds, spades and hearts. The biggest payout, ten nickels (50 cents), was awarded when three bell symbols lined up.
The machine was dubbed by many at the time as the One Armed Bandit, a name which is still used today, owing as much to the lever players pulled down with one arm to operate the game, as to the feeling some players had of being robbed of their money.
Thanks to its ability to provide automatic payouts, the Liberty Bell slot machine is widely considered to officially have been the first slot machine. Hugely popular at the time, it gave rise to an industry of slot machine manufacturers aiming to create systems with slot machine functions that included a direct payout mechanism; an industry that has hardly slowed down since.
In the years following the invention of the Liberty Bell slot machine, despite a ban in California, manufacturers rushed to meet demand and produce slot machines around the United States, with many copying the first ever slot machine. By 1908 most cigar stores, saloons, bowling alleys, barbershops and brothels had a bell-style slot machine, with an estimated 3,300 slot machines in San Francisco alone.
Evolution of Slot Machines
Although not deviating too far from the original Liberty Bell slot, other types of slot machines began to hit the streets in the early 1900s. One included flags and wreaths on the reels, while another had an attachment that paid out gum in order to circumvent anti-gambling laws. This slot machine included fruit symbols like lemons, cherries, plums and oranges on the reels, based on the flavors of the gum, giving it the nickname ‘fruit machine’, which is still widely used today. Later on, images of chewing gum packets were added to the reels, known as the BAR symbol we still see on fruit machines today.
In 1916, the Mills Novelty company created the first kind of jackpot slot machine, which paid out all the coins in the machine for specific symbol combinations.
The popularity of slot machines continued in the United States throughout the 1920s and ’30s, often controlled by organized crime groups which tended to result in tougher restrictions on their use in private venues, as well as limits on their sale and production.
After World War 2, slot machines gained popularity all over the world, usually capitalized upon by governments as a means of taxing revenue.
Electromechanical slot machines started to be used from 1950 onwards, with 3 and 5 coin multiplier payout systems that awarded coin winnings in proportion with the number of coins inserted into the machine prior to the pulling of the lever. In 1963, Bally Manufacturing developed Money Honey, the first electromechanical slot machine with a bottomless hopper and an automatic payout of 500 coins, which quickly made this more modern slot machine the preferred type of slot game of its time.
Soon after, the lever mechanism became obsolete and electronic video slots were invented. In 1976, the Las Vegas based Fortune Coin Company created a machine using color display and logic boards to reproduce the functionality of slot machines, initially going on trial at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. After a few tweaks, it was approved by the Nevada State Gaming Commission and thus became the start of the popularity of gaming machines on the Las Vegas strip.
The First Video Slot Machine
While the first video slot games were invented in Las Vegas, it took some years for technology and popularity to catch up. Initially, video slots weren’t as highly regarded as physical slot machines that had an actual lever to pull, physical reels that spun and coins that tumbled out with each win, as these were seen to be a large part of a slot machine’s attraction. As time went on, video slots evolved into the all-singing-all-dancing modern machines full of features that we see today, and their popularity only increases.
Slot Jackpots
In 1986, the electronic systems of a number of slot machines in different locations were connected to allow a portion of the coins wagered on these linked machines to be combined into a “super jackpot,” potentially reaching a huge amount before it’s won. The largest progressive slots jackpot ever paid was in 2003 when a Las Vegas slot machine paid out almost $40 million to a very lucky winner.
Slot Machines Today
These days there are thought to be over 900,000 actual slot machines in the United States, with Nevada alone having 200,000 of them.
Thanks to the internet, dozens of online casinos now exist, each offering hundreds of online slots and video poker machines with stunning 3D style graphics based on themes from history, cinema and television, sports, fantasy, animals and more. The need to constantly insert cash into a video slot machine has now been replaced in an online casino by the convenience of an online wallet, and games that can be played anywhere from phones, computers and tablets.
Modern slot machines offered in online casinos include online slots with multiple numbers of paylines (some in the hundreds of thousands!), bonus games, giant cash prizes, wilds and free spins, progressive jackpots and a seemingly endless array of exhilarating features to entertain players and offer countless ways of winning. An RNG, Random Number Generator, is used to determine the outcome of each spin, an automated industry-used software that guarantees a random result each time.
The history of slot machines dates back 130 years and while slot machines have progressed and improved in features and functionality ever since, their huge popularity is simply down to the fact that they are one of the easiest and most entertaining casino games to play and win on.
