Online Casino

The history of the slot machine dates back to the end of the 19th century, when in 1891 a type of slot machine was created in New York by Pitt and Sittman. This machine had five mechanical drums that displayed poker hands, but there was no payback mechanism, so the bars that first housed them paid the players with free drinks.

The first true slot machine with a payout mechanism was invented in 1895 by car mechanic, Charles Fey San Francisco, California, and was called the Liberty Bell.

The Liberty Bell stood upright like modern slots machines and had three spinning reels. There was a pull handle that started the reels spinning. Painted around each reel were a mixture of stars and horseshoes plus playing card symbols such as diamonds, spades, and hearts, as well as the trademark image of a cracked Liberty Bell.

When three Liberty Bells stopped in a row after a spin, the machines biggest payoff (ten nickels or fifty cents) was deposited in the tray. Later, Fey also invented a device called the trade check separator. He put this device in the Liberty Bell slot machine which worked by having a detecting pin that distinguish fake nickels, or slugs from real coins.

Fey rented his slot machines to bars and saloons working on an even division of the profits, half for the bar owner and half for him, which became very profitable. Demand for Liberty Bell slot machines escalated greatly and Fey was placed in the position where he could not build them in his small shop fast enough to satisfy demand.

In 1907, Herbert Mills, a Chicago based arcade machines manufacturer commenced production of a new slot machine which he called the Operator Bell. This machine was the first to have fruit symbols on its reels and due to Mill’s larger factory capacity, threatened to put Fey out of business. However, Fey’s machines were more reliable, durable and better all round, so he eventually beat his competitors to stay in business and thrive.

This was short-lived however as anti-gambling laws began to bite in 1909 and by 1911 slot machines were banned in the state of California. By the 1930s, slot machines were almost universally outlawed.

When the Flamingo Hilton was built on the strip in Las Vegas, its owner and organised crime figure Bugsy Siegel installed slot machines in its casino. By the early 1960s slot machines evolved into electronic versions which were more secure than the older mechanical ones and much more difficult to cheat.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that computer software became sophisticated enough for slots to move online in the fledgling online casinos at the time and have since grown to become the number one most popular game played online.