Slot games are one of the most popular ways to play in online casinos, and even in physical casinos. Head to Vegas, or even to a casino closer to home, and you will find hundreds of slot machines on the floor – more of them than table games, that’s for sure.
In fact, slot machines are so popular in casinos that they represent up to 85% of profits.
The prevalence of internet, computers, and even smartphones across the world has meant that it has never been easier to get involved with casino gaming – you can now play your favorite slot games like Eye of Horus slot as well as traditional table games like poker, blackjack, and roulette online without having to make all the effort to go to the casino. This is all due to some pretty incredible technology that started with the earliest slot machines in the 1800s.
A quick history of slot machines
The earliest slot machines were very simple. Charles Fey, a mechanic from San Francisco, is credited with building the first slot machine. This coin-operated gambling machine was completed in 1894. He was also the man responsible for creating the often-copied Liberty Bell machine, which used horseshoes and bell symbols as well as the card suits that were on the original machine.
Fey quit his job and opened a factory to make these machines, which proved so popular in San Francisco saloons that other manufacturers began to build them, including Mills Novelty Company in Chicago.
What is interesting about this early period of the slot machine is that according to morality and the law in the US, in many places these machines were not allowed – so they were built to pay out in tokens rather than cash. This circumvented the law on gambling and allowed players to surreptitiously swap their tokens for goods such as cigars in the saloons they were playing in.
As with much casino gaming in the US, the provision of slot machines was thought to help fund organized crime, which made lawmakers much stricter about where they could be used, and it wasn’t until after WWII that the sheer profitability of slot games was understood by the government (and the possibility of big tax income from them).
Technology soon came into play, with electromagnetic slot machines popping up in Las Vegas in the 1950s, and video slot machines in the 1970s. Now, you’ll find electronic slot machines that rely on algorithms for fairness, that feature 3D animations and graphics that rival the biggest movie blockbusters, and even online slot games that tie you into huge cumulative jackpots that can be won anywhere in the world.
Today’s slot technology
RNG
What is truly random? Ask a person to pick three random numbers between 1 and 10, and there could be any number of variations – but most people will try and pick three numbers as far apart from each other as possible. This then, cannot be random; in fact, if three numbers are chosen at random by a machine, they are just as likely to be consecutive or even repeats as they are spread out.
Slot machines rely on luck, and this means that they must be provably fair. Each spin should have the same probability of winning as the next, and to achieve this slot machine manufacturers have created Random Number Generators (RNG) that are based on algorithms. These ensure that the combination of symbols on the pay line after each spin is random while ensuring that the RTP rate is adhered to.
The RTP rate is published for every game, and this tells you as a player how much of the stakes are returned on average. For most games, the average RTP rate is about 96%. This means that for every 100 units gambled, the game pays out 96 units (on average), and the 4 units represent the house edge (the way the casino earns from the games).
Graphics
There have been countless innovations in graphics, even in the last decade or so – and while many of these seem to be related more to movies and TV shows, gaming has been at the forefront of animation.
If you pick up any modern console game from the big developers, you will notice the realism, the clean lines, the 3D animation, and even things like ray tracing – and this has translated rather nicely for some of the new slot machines, too.
Almost all modern slot machines, whether physical or online, use video software tied into the RNG to create the reel spins that make the games work. What this means for you as a player is that the animations of the reels spinning, of the symbols, and even in cut scenes or in the background are of comparable quality to some of the biggest movies, TV shows, and video games – which makes it a lot more fun!
Featured image credit: Kenny Eliason / Unsplash
