REAL MONEY SLOTS ONLINE

In 1887 in San Francisco, Charles Fey developed what is considered to be the first slot machine. The Liberty Bell slot machine was an improvement on a crude gambling machine designed in New York a few years earlier, with one major difference: 3 spinning reels and 5 symbols. The symbols were horseshoes, hearts, spades, diamonds, and a Liberty Bell, which gave the machine its name. Based on the iconic symbol of American Independence, the Liberty Bell slots gave gamblers the freedom to plop a coin in a slot, pull a lever, and win prizes.

Early slot machines resembled ornamental cash registers of that era, which made them extremely portable – you could put them anywhere. This made them extremely popular in bars, restaurants, cigar shops, bowling alleys and barber shops all over the U.S. These little metal machines stood on 4 silver ‘feet’ on thousands of countertops and bars all over the U.S. But when the slot machines were banned under anti-gambling laws, they simply changed with the times.

As technology got better, the humble slot machine underwent a few more game changers. Most of the heavy metal used in early slots got scrapped in favor of lighter, wooden parts. Another major change to the slot machine was in the mechanics. Soon, machines were designed with the capacity for adjustment. This meant that slot machine owners could make adjustments to the payout frequency, or volatility.

The next game changer in store for the one armed bandit came in the form of the first electromechanical slot machine. In 1963, Bally pioneered the use of electricity in slot machines, which allowed for complicated electromagnetic cores, increased numbers of symbol combinations, and much bigger payouts, including jackpots.

If antique, gear-driven, mechanical slot machines are the granddaddy of online slots, video arcade slots are the proud papa. Those vibrant, computerized video slot games which exploded on the scene in the 1980s sowed the seeds for future online casinos.