video slot machines

The first slot machines were created in 1891 by Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn. The machines were with five drums holding 50 card faces, which were based on poker. After a while the machines gain popularity and almost every bar had one of this machines installed. The gameplay was similar to the current gameplay, with the only difference that the payout was not money, but a free beer or cigars. After a while, the five drums were replaced with three and the ten cards replaced with five symbols - horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell. This made possible a effective payout mechanism to be invented. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payout - ten nickels.

In 1902 the slot machines were banned, but the owners replaced the card faces/symbols with pictures of fruits and the payout was gum, candy and drinks. The bars that are used in the present machines are the symbols of the sticks of gum along with the cherries and some other fruits.

But even with they popularity, the casinos were not using slot machines, because of the little profit - the used coins were only small ones and the chance for hitting the jackpot was 15 624 to 1.

Only after the slot machine companies invented machines which allowed bigger bets and had bigger hoppers, so that they can accommodate bigger coins, the casinos began to use them.