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A slot machine (American), fruit machine (British), or poker machine
(Australian) is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels
which spin when a button is pushed. Slots are also known as one-armed
bandits because slot machines were originally operated by a lever on
the side of the machine (the one arm) instead of a button on the
front
panel, and because of their ability to leave the gamer penniless.
Many
modern machines still have a legacy lever in addition to the button.
Slot machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or
money inserted to play. The machine pays off based on patterns of
symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern
computer technology has resulted in many variations on the slot
machine concept. Slot machines are the most popular gambling method
in
casinos and constitute about 70 percent of the average casino's
income.
[1] It is estimated that thirty percent or more of the profits from
gambling machines come from problem gamblers.
Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. developed a gambling
machine in 1891 which was a precursor to the modern slot machine. It
contained five drums holding a total of 50 card faces and was based
on
poker. This machine proved extremely popular and soon many bars in
the
city had one or more of the machines bar-side. Players would insert a
nickel and pull a lever, which would spin the drums and the cards
they
held, the player hoping for a good poker hand. There was no direct
payout mechanism, so a pair of kings might get the player a free
beer,
whereas a royal flush could pay out cigars or drinks, the prizes
wholly dependent on what was on offer at the local establishment. To
make the odds better for the house, two cards were typically removed
from the deck: the ten of spades and the jack of hearts, which cut
the
odds of winning a royal flush by half. The drums could also be re-
arranged to further reduce a player's chance of winning.
The first one-armed bandit was invented in 1887 by Charles Fey of San
Francisco, California, U.S.A, who devised a much simpler automatic
mechanism.[3] Due to the vast number of possible wins with the
original poker card based game, it proved practically impossible to
come up with a way to make a machine capable of making an automatic
pay-out for all possible winning combinations. Charles Fey devised a
machine with three spinning reels containing a total of five symbols
–
horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell, which also
gave the machine its name. By replacing ten cards with five symbols
and using three reels instead of five drums, the complexity of
reading
a win was considerably reduced, allowing Fey to devise an effective
automatic payout mechanism. Three bells in a row produced the biggest
payoff, ten nickels. Liberty Bell was a huge success and spawned a
thriving mechanical gaming device industry. Even when the use of
these
gambling devices was banned in his home state after a few years, Fey
still couldn't keep up with demand for the game elsewhere.