Slot History

The origin of slots dates back to the late 19th century, San Francisco, when Charles Fey, a 29-year-old mechanic, created the first slot machine in history.

Charley Fey provided the world with what would become a phenomenon. The first machines were handmade by Fey himself and placed in the local gambling palaces on a 50% rental basis. So additionally to being the creator, Fey was also the first owner of the machines. Fey's first machine was very much alike modern day machines.

In 1910, Fey's first machine was slighlty modified by the Mills Novelty Company. The new machine had a gooseneck coin entry and featured the popular fruit symbols, which are still used in many of today's slot machines. These cast iron slots are heavy, weighing over 100 pounds.

The era of cast iron machines ended in 1915, when new slot machines with less expensive wood cabinets were invented. In the early 1930s, the Mills Novelty Company made some additional changes to its line of slot machines that revolutionized the slots industry.

It created much quieter slot machines. Then it introduced a double jackpot that assured players that one could win twice in quick succession.
To entice the players, Mills designed a series of cabinet designs that were striking and colorful, each with its own theme.

The modern slot machines feature random number generators that determine the number of symbols per reel based on the amount of the jackpot. The higher the jackpot the greater the number of symbols per reel.

Most slot machines are programmed to payout between 80 and 99 percent of coins played which includes jackpot payoffs. Although some slot machines may be located beside each other and look identical, they could each be programmed to return an entirely different percentage rate. There are generally two different types of slot machines; flat rate and progressives. Flat rate machines have a set jackpot payoff while progressive machine's jackpot continues to accumulate with each coin inserted until hit.

There are many companies producing slot machines today, such as: Mills and Company (the original), Jennings, Pace, and Bally, the largest of them all. Slot machines have gained world-wide popularity and it's definitely one of the most important additions to gambling establishments in history.