Thanks to some people who collect antique slot machines as ob·jets d’art, because they were able to save examples of how slot machines evolved. Slot machine collectors are actually hobbyists who repaired and restored the apparatuses from rundown conditions; worn out, rusty, sometimes broken and probably considered as worthless by their previous owners.
How the Concept of Slot Machines Originated
About 130 years ago, the first slot machines were invented for commercial use not as gambling devices, but as sophisticated vending machines. They were called slot machines because they were designed to mechanically dispense goods by inserting nickels in the slot.
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, someone in the U.S. came up with the novel idea of displaying two toy horses that mechanically raced from end to end inside a slot machine. That machine was said to be the first type of coin-operated device used for gambling. In today’s igaming environment, this concept is still in use as content of a virtual horse-race betting game.
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A decade later, a company in Brooklyn, NY called Sittman and Pitt, invented the slot machine that fully embraced the concept of gambling. Since most gambling activities mainly made use of playing cards, particularly poker, the company placed a set of playing cards that spun every time a nickel was inserted in the slot. Once the spinning stops, 5 cards were displayed as poker hands.
However, the early slot machine still had no payout mechanism and it was up to the pub, saloon, store or shop owner to determine the prizes that can be won; usually as free treats like beers, cigars or mixed drinks.
Charles Fay’s “One-Armed Bandits”
It was only in 1895 when Charles Fay of San Francisco, developed a slot machine that held three spinning reels, which came with a mechanical payout feature and a lever that allowed full operation. Each reel contained images of horseshoes, Liberty Bells and the four card suit symbols: diamond, spade, heart and clover.
The images spun to randomly stop and return with winning or non-winning combinations. Since players tend to lose money when playing constantly with the slot machines, Fay’s invention earned the nickname “one-armed bandit.”
At the beginning of the 20 century, other slot machine manufacturers were already copying Fay’s one-armed bandits. During the 50s and 60s, when Las Vegas became the gambling mecca of the country, slot machine designs went as far as encasing the machine in life-size wooden mannequins of bandits to emphasize the lever as a bandit’s arm.
Bally Technologies Introduced the First Electro-Mechanical Slot Machine
In 1963, Bally Technologies developed the first fully electromechanically-operated slot machine called the “Money Honey,” which were operational through the use of casino tokens instead of real-money coins. The electromagnetic mechanism fully replaced Fay’s lever that made the one-arm bandits obsolete.
Moreover, Bally’s electronic slot machines were the firsts to dole payouts of up to 500 tokens. They were the beginnings of the modern-day video slot machines that many see today in Las Vegas and other locations where casino gambling is legal.
Age of Computerization Introduced Online Gambling
The age of computerization and the advent of the Internet introduced the concept of online casino gaming. The igaming concept spawned the development of slot machine programs that delivered an assortment of content as media for online gambling. Although gambling via the Internet were also banned, some countries find it difficult to fully enforce gambling prohibition laws.
Gambling In indonesia, whether offline or online, is not legal. Yet there are many European-licensed operators of online gambling platforms that earned the trust and patronage of many adult Indonesians. A popular choice is sbobet online casino; because aside from being a secure website, its platform also offers a virtual sportsbook that allows players to place wagers on different worldwide sports events.
