The Interesting History of the Slot Machine

If you love to play slots, then it would be in your best interests to learn about the history of the slot machine. Do you know that modern slot machines are operated by a microprocessor just like a computer? The machine lever and the spinning reels may look like mechanical, but the brains that control the outcome of a slots game is actually a computer.

A man named Charles Fey was believed to have invented the first slot machine in 1887. Fey named his invention the "Liberty Bell" and proceeded to rent out his machines to gambling establishments. The Liberty Bell became very popular and soon Fey was hardly able to cope with the demand for his machines.

The Liberty Bell was in some ways very similar to today's modern slot machines, except for the fact that it was purely mechanical. It used three spinning reels with 20 symbols for each reel. The Liberty Bell was a phenomenal success and opened the door for other inventors to create similar machines.

In 1907, Herbert Mills made a slot machine similar to the Liberty Bell. The Operator Bell, as it was called, achieved greater popularity and business success than its predecessor.

The slot machine became so common and popular in the United States that laws were passed to ban or regulate slot machines. Despite the restrictions, slot machines continued to flourish during the Depression era of the 1920s and 30s. After World War II, Chicago mobster Bugsy Moran placed slot machines at the Flamingo Hilton casino in Las Vegas and other casinos followed suit. The rest is history.

By the 1970s and 80s, advancements in computer technology enabled slot machine manufacturers to create electronic slot machines. The mechanical parts were replaced with computer chips, wires and printed circuit boards.

To the uninitiated, modern slot machines still look like the old mechanical device. Most slot machines nowadays have retained the lever or handle to give the same gambling experience like before, although buttons can also be used with the same effect.

There is a mistaken notion that because slot machines are already electronic, they can be programmed to give out unfair results. This is not true as modern slot machines use a Random Number Generator (RNG) to generate random strings of numbers, which are then fed to the computer that determines the outcome of a game. So the results of an electronic machine is just as random as a mechanical one.

Slot machines have changed much since its humble beginnings more than a century ago, but the game still never fails to attract and entice millions of gamblers the world over.