The History of Slotting Machines

Despite the fact that there are thousands of different slot machines or slots in casinos and online today, not many people think about how the so-called one-armed bandit came to be.

The First Machines

The forerunner of the modern slot machine was a poker machine that came into being in the workshop of entrepreneurs Sittman and Pitt in 1891 in Brooklyn, New York. In this way, video poker was actually the first of the slot machines, as the purpose of the first machine was to produce a random poker hand.

Sittman and Pitt’s machine did become popular, but it was quite inefficient. In 1895, car mechanic Charles Fey took up the matter and improved the machine. Fey simplified the concept to a machine with three reels with different symbols on them that would match for the machine to pay out.

One of the symbols was the American Liberty Bell, which also became the name of the machine. Thanks to the limited number of combinations, Fey was able to develop a system that paid out automatically – a feature that was missing from Sittman and Pitt’s variation.

Major Progress in the Slots

When the electricity network grew seriously, so did the first electric online slots, the old ones were run by hand.. The Bally Company was the first company to mass-produce an electric slot, and a few years later there were rows after rows of this kind of machine in various casinos. The games evolved to include different themes and ways to win, including more lines to play on and machines that paid out more depending on how much you bet.

Today’s Slot Machines

Today’s digital industry has taken slot machines to completely new levels. There are loads of slot machines and many major software providers find collaborations with famous series, personalities, and the like, such as Microgaming’s “The Osbournes” is an example of when it comes to an online casino. The physical slot machines have also become fully computerized, and many no longer accept coins but require either bills or even credit cards.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *