What is the first image that comes to your mind when some say slot machines? For most people, this image will be a huge cabinet with a long arm on its side. Because the slot machines you see in movies are like this: They have symbols of fruit images and when you win, they pay with a lot of coins. With the help of some bonus rounds (e.g. red stag active free spins) you can even earn more. In fact, the slot machines are much more than that and have changed their form numerous times over time. In this article, we'll take a look at the history of slot machines and talk about what exciting developments are waiting for us in the future.

More Than 100 Years Old

The first example of today's slot machines appeared in San Francisco in 1895. The name of this machine was Liberty Bell because the most paying symbol was shown with a bell image. Other symbols used fruit images to make it easier for people to recognize them. The term “fruit machine” originates from here. This machine initially paid with chewing gum because the anti-gambling laws at that time were quite strict.

The inventor of the first slot machine did not apply for a patent for its invention. For this reason, slot machines started to be produced by other companies and spread all over America in a short time. It was possible to see them at gas stations, cafes, and markets. After Nevada was selected as America's new gambling centre, casino owners adapted these machines for themselves. Their goal was to offer a simple game to housewives who were waiting for their husbands’ poker game to end. But surprisingly, queues began to form in front of the slot machines, and these games gained incredible popularity. Today, about 70% of the profits of casinos come from slot machines.

Believe it or not, these machines were working “manually” until the 90s. So the gears required no electricity, they had to be winded like a watch. A great part of the legends about slot machines is also due to this period. In the early 90s, a company called IGT produced the world's first electromechanical slot cabinet. Moreover, it introduced the video slot technology to the world: There was no need to have gears in these cabinets anymore. Everything was controlled by a computer software.

Slot technology developed rapidly after that. The graphics quality of the games and the number of bonus rounds increased. Progressive jackpot machines have appeared and multiple games have been started to run on the same network. All of thes

Online Slot Games

Flash-based Games
At the end of the 90s, a company called Microgaming launched the world's first online casino and developed the first online slot. Actually, there were other slot games played on the internet too, but they were very simple and used JAVA technology. Microgaming developed Flash-based and real-money games. To attract attention, they started organizing various bonus campaigns. People did not “trust” the internet at that time and match bonuses were offered to encourage them to deposit money. This is the basis of today's casino bonuses.

Technology and the internet developed very quickly in the 2000s. This development also affected online casino games. First of all, graphics quality has increased and games have started to gain additional features. They started to pay more than their land-based casino variants and offer better quality graphics. It was even possible to play them on mobile devices. But almost every casino required a program to be installed. So you were able to play games through this software, not through the website.

HTML5 Games
After the HTML5 technology is introduced, things changed once more. The first examples of “Instant Play” casinos appeared. They did not require a program to be installed and could offer the same experience on every platform. All you need is to play games was a modern browser. Mobile gambling has grown more and more. The number of casinos and games began to be expressed in thousands. We still don't know the exact number, but we know that there are more than 4,000 online casinos on the internet.

VR Games
However, the development had not ended: After 2010, VR technology was developed and this technology was soon adapted to casino games. You didn't have to go to a website to play games anymore: You could walk around in a virtual casino with VR glasses and control all the games with hand gestures. This technology is still in development and is gaining more and more features. Soon, we'll just start using these glasses to play casino games: Casino and slot technology continue to evolve at an incredible pace. In a short time, we will be able to see the huge cabinets we mentioned at the beginning only in the museums. It's a good time to be a player: We're witnessing a revolution, and more and more options are offered for gambling every day.