Today, on line slot machines make up the bulk of the games offered at online casinos. The main reason for this is that on line slots are the most played online gambling games and generate the lion’s share of all online casinos’ revenue. Of course, explaining why on line slots are so popular can be difficult. After all, on line slot machines aren’t the most engaging games ever conceived—to play slot machines all you do is press a button, and the online casino’s slot machine software does the rest. Then again, perhaps this is the very reason so many people favor on line slots: Simply put, as the absolute definitions of mindless entertainment they’re perfect for people who just want a bit of a break.

But this explanation doesn’t just apply to on line slot machines. Truth be told, long before computer slots hit the scene, an equally huge number of people loved to play slot machines in brick-and-mortar casinos; and, though we naturally can’t speak for all of them, it’s likely these folks wanted to play slot machines for the exact same reasons. But saying this doesn’t go nearly far enough in explaining how and why the slots craze originally started. For that we have to go all the way back into slots history, to the beginning, once upon a time….

Slots History

Slots History: The Early Years

Slots history begins well over a hundred years ago in the United States. Although computer slots wouldn’t come about for another century, the world’s first slot-like games could easily be considered the “computer slots” of their day. The earliest machine, invented by Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn in 1891, consisted of playing cards fixed to rotating drums. These machines became a popular fixture in Western bars, but unlike the owners of today’s Internet gambling slots, the proprietors of such establishments were forbidden from offering cash prizes. So instead they offered winners free drinks, food or candy.

Such machines would continue to enthrall random drunkards until mechanic Charles Fey designed the first true slot machine, “The Liberty Bell.” Fey's game appeared in 1895 and addressed a major flaw in Sittman and Pitt’s design—namely, that with so many card combinations, it was impossible for such machines to make different payouts automatically. Instead of using poker cards, then, Fey used five symbols—diamonds, spades, hearts, horse shoes and Liberty Bells—and placed them on three reels joined by a horizontal axle. This made having an automatic-payout mechanism feasible and also made it much easier for both players and game owners to recognize winning combinations. It took just one penny to play the Liberty Bell, and players who received the top combination of three bell symbols earned a maximum payout of 10 nickels (equal to $12.77 today).

Despite Fey’s cumbersome cast-iron design, the popularity of his “one-armed bandit” spread faster than dust on a fly’s tokus—so fast, in fact, that Fey had to replace its cast iron casing with a wooden one. While this did make his machines less durable, it went a long way toward making them easier to transport and install. And that equaled more products in more bars. Soon, every saloon worth its sarsaparilla had at least one machine, and folks who would have never before set foot in a spirituous liquor seller’s establishment were showing up in droves. Mr. Fey, despite his humble German roots, was fast becoming a wealthy man—much like the bar owners who ordered his contraption.

From Illegal Gambling to Slots Mania

U.S. gambling law ebbs and flows as often as control of Congress shifts between the country’s two political parties. In the early 19th century, for instance, many American universities organized lotteries to help pay for expansion. Then Harvard was unable to pay out one unlucky winner, and legislators outlawed the practice. Later, with the country’s expansion westward, gambling again became legal, mostly because territorial authorities had their hands full enough chasing down cattle rustlers and murderers. It was during this lawless period that Charles Fey’s Liberty Bell machines found homes in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada. Soon, however, the tide turned again, and by 1909 every state in the union had outlawed gambling.

As a result, Fey’s Liberty Bell Company had to become the Bell-Fruit Gum Company and overhaul its machines. The new version went back to the old Sittman and Pitt prize model by dispensing chewing gum and food. It also had different symbols to avoid associations with gambling, many of which still appear on Internet gambling slots’ reels today—including melons, cherries and the “Bar” symbol which was originally the Bell-Fruit Company’s logo.

Despite all these little changes, however, Fey’s company couldn’t stop some state governments from seeing through his games’ “vending machine” veneer. In two cases, State v. Ellis and State v. Striggles, Iowa courts found the owners of vending machines similar to Bell-Fruit’s slot game guilty of providing illegal gambling. The most confounding thing about the two cases was that the machines in question were far more vending-related than Bell-Fruit’s: They always dispensed the purchased goods, but also occasionally dispensed tokens, allowing users to buy extra candy. Moreover, the machines’ payouts were dependent events, and they even featured displays notifying customers of what the next outcome would be. How the owners of such machines could be found guilty—while the Bell-Fruit remained unscathed—is anybody’s guess. Suffice it to say, though, Iowa jurists did find them guilty, saying that the machine encouraged people to purchase more candy in the hope of “getting something for nothing.”

This veritable ban on slot machines would continue in the U.S. until 1931, when Nevada re-legalized gambling. As a result, slots were again a nationwide hit and, by the 1940s, were a Las Vegas fixture. Moreover, this popularity has continued up to the present, making “slot machine” and “casino” nearly synonymous (though in Vegas you can also find slots in gas stations and even Laundromats).

Meanwhile, dozens of new variations on slots began popping up, many of which featured different symbols, bigger payouts, more betting options and up to five reels. Longtime slots manufacturer Bally Technologies released one important example of this, the “electromechanical slot machine,” in 1962 and made so much money from it that the company was able to enter the casino business nearly 20 years later. Generally, such games allowed for greater accuracy and larger payouts, but required less upkeep and maintenance. In the case of Bally’s electromechanical slots specifically, though, the games didn’t rely on the mechanical system Fey had invented, and instead used the very first slot machine software to generate each outcome randomly. This design was not only important for casinos in its time—for eliminating the possibility of mechanical bias—but also were direct precursors to today’s Internet gambling slots. Moreover, the new electronic format was a hit with players and led to even greater automation with video-displays which in place of the old metal-reels-behind-glass setup.

The Rise of On Line Slot Machines

By the late 1980s, game manufacturers had introduced video slots with so many bets and bonus games that some dollar slots could reach a max bet of $50 to $100. Like everything else, the continued development of computer chips had opened the door to innumerable possibilities. And it seemed to become a competition between slot manufacturers to see who could create the most complex betting options.

Still, one thing traditional slots manufacturers couldn’t do was produce home slot machines that were tied into casinos’ systems. Obviously, whoever created and/or operated the first home slot machines would get filthy, stinking rich extremely quickly because players would be able to make wagers every day if they liked. The only question was: How? And its answer came in the form of an academy-based computer network set up so researchers could share information—what would later be dubbed the “Internet.”

The idea of creating Internet-based gambling videogames immediately garnered interest from investors and, at least in theory, seemed simple enough. A boom in home-console and computer game markets in the ‘80s and early ‘90s had spurred competition and innovation until, by the 1993, video games were becoming increasingly sophisticated. With the Internet, the reasoning went, a company could feasibly take bets on games like Internet gambling slots, allowing for sky’s-the-limit profits. There were only two problems with the idea: First, an Internet casino company would need to keep its servers someplace, and that place had to legally allow it to do so; secondly, and even more damning, no casino-game software existed. The reason for this second conundrum was that, till then, the videogame market had centered on selling consoles and games. So casino games, thought to be the epitome of boring without their gambling aspect, had never been produced. Whoever made the first foray into online gambling would have to start from scratch and, moreover, would be taking a major risk in doing so.

Still, the promise of immense profits prevailed, and in 1994, inchoate online casino companies had their “someplace” when legislators in Antigua and Barbuda enacted the “Free Trade and Processing Zone Act.” The only thing left was to develop the games and a payment system that allowed for secure funds transfers from players’ bank accounts to the online casinos’. Two companies, Microgaming and CryptoLogic, took up the challenge with Microgaming creating the first suite of online casino games and CryptoLogic producing security software that would prevent hackers from accessing players’ financial information. Both companies then partnered with London-based OIGE N.V. to create InterCasino, which launched in 1995.

Naturally, slot machine software was an integral part of the first game suite Microgaming created so that as early as InterCasino’s public launch players were already engaging in online gambling with slot machines. Finally, it seemed the dream of creating home slot machines had come true. And, for their part, InterCasino, Microgaming and CryptoLogic were reaping the rewards.

Today’s On Line Slot Machines and Beyond

The first on line slots were somewhat rudimentary, but the introduction of so many online gambling casinos with slot machines in the late 1990s created a lot of incentive to improve on these earlier versions. These days, on line slot machines are faster and more efficient than their live counterparts and offer a large number of player options unavailable on their mechanical cousins. To be sure, the concept of the game remains the same. But modern gambling technology has allowed online game designers to take slots to a whole new level. Thanks to automated playing features, for instance, players can switch between slot games instantaneously. Simply put, such convenience is unbeatable.

On line slots history is still being written, though, and it’s possible that, within the next decade, visiting an online casino’s slots bank will become a virtual experience. Already the introduction of fully interactive online formats has made slots accessible to new players around the world; meanwhile, progressive or “linked” jackpot slots that were popular decades ago in live casinos have experienced resurgence in popularity online. Both technologies rely on operators linking slot machine games to each other. And recently online casinos have even begun networking jackpot slots based in separate countries. For these games, the total bank comprises cumulative jackpot slots fed by millions of players every day, and anyone anywhere—except the few countries that ban online gambling with slot machines, of course—can make it big without stepping a foot outside.

So what lies in store for on line slot machines and their ilk? Here at AceHoyle.com we can hardly guess. But we do know that whatever comes next it’s going to turn the slots world on its ear once again, and again, it will likely draw players the world over with simple—if somewhat mindless—entertainment.

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