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The Original Gambling Machine
During the latter part of the 19th century, crude coin operated poker
machines were already being used in bars. These contraptions consisted
of five drums or wheels where playing cards where attached at random.
Players would drop in a nickel, pull a lever and wait for the drums to
stop. Should the card combinations show a good poker hand, the winner
gets a drink or a cigar on the house.
A San Francisco mechanic by the name of Charles Fey was said to be
inspired by these poker machines and devised his own game to attract
customers in 1887. He wanted it to have an automatic reward mechanism
so he made a simpler design.
The device only had three reels that spun at a pull of a lever.
Instead of playing cards, he used only five symbols namely, diamonds,
spades, hearts, horseshoes and the Liberty Bell. By getting three
matching symbols in a row, the “bell machine” would dispense coins in
return.
Fey would enter into an agreement with the Mills Novelty Company in
1907 to manufacture and sell the Liberty Bell machine. The highest
jackpot for Fey’s gambling machine was 15 nickels, which were won by
players whenever 3 bells matched up. Almost immediately, Fey’s slot
machine became a huge success and elevated Charles Fey as the “Father
of Automated Gambling”.
Spinning Reels Online
By the 1940’s, casinos adopted the slot machine as a novelty to
provide entertainment for the wives and companions of their
high-rollers. Decades later, the slot machine would prove to be the
cash cow of the gambling industry, generating more than 60% of a
casino’s income.
From the 1980’s to the present, as the gaming business turned to
electronic machines, then later to Internet technology, so did the
slot machine evolved into stand-alone random number generators and the
latest versions of online slots that use Java, Flash or similar Web
technologies. These days, online slots allow for more variations for
enjoying and winning, with multiple paylines and bonus games to keep
online players greatly entertained.
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