50 Fun Facts About Slot Machines

What nickname for slot machines refers to the side lever and a knack for emptying wallets?

Modern machines mostly use buttons and touchscreens; the lever survives as a skeuomorphic flourish.

What are slot machines called in Australia and New Zealand?

The name is short for poker machines; officially they are 'gaming machines'.

What are slot machines called in Scots?

The British call them fruit machines.

Roughly what share of an average US casino's income comes from slot machines?

They are by far the most popular way to gamble in a casino.

On which card game was the 1893 Sittman and Pitt machine of five drums and 50 cards based?

There was no payout mechanism, so a good hand might earn a free beer or cigars.

Which two cards were usually removed from the Sittman and Pitt machine to help the house?

Removing them doubled the odds against hitting a royal flush.

Which German-born San Francisco mechanic devised the three-reel slot machine?

He was born August Fey and changed his name because he disliked being called Gus.

What was the first three-reel slot machine called, after the symbol that paid the most?

Three of the symbols in a row paid ten nickels, or 50 cents.

How much did three bells in a row pay on the original three-reel machine?

That was the biggest payoff available.

Why could the slot machine's inventor not patent his device?

Copycats flourished; the first, by Herbert Mills, appeared in 1907.

In which Bavarian town was the slot machine's inventor born in 1862?

His father was a sexton at Ulm Minster and had fifteen children.

Which manufacturer produced the first copy of the original machine, in 1907?

By 1908 'bell' machines were in cigar stores, brothels and barber shops.

Why did lemons, cherries, oranges and plums appear on early slot reels?

An Operator's Bell machine came with a gum-vending attachment.

The BAR symbol on slot reels derives from a picture of what?

The Bell-Fruit Gum logo was on the reels alongside the fruit.

Which Iowa cases about a mint vending machine teach 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'?

The machine occasionally gave extra tokens by chance, so the court called it a gambling device.

Which 1963 Bally machine was the first fully electromechanical slot?

Its bottomless hopper could pay out up to 500 coins without an attendant.

Which company built the first video slot in 1976 around a Sony Trinitron television?

The prototype was trialled at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Which company bought the video slot pioneer and its technology in 1978?

International Game Technology went on to become the world's largest slot maker.

Which 1996 WMS game was the first American video slot with a 'second screen' bonus round?

Australia had the idea earlier with Three Bags Full in 1994.

Which TV game show has been one of the most popular licensed slot machine lines?

A 2024 class action alleged the machines were rigged; the maker denies it.

How many combinations does a three-reel machine with 10 symbols per reel have?

That is 10 cubed, which capped how large jackpots could be.

Which Norwegian mathematician patented the virtual-reel random number generator in 1984?

The patent openly aimed to make machines seem to offer better odds than they do; IGT bought it.

What does RTP stand for on a slot machine?

Machines are typically set to pay back between 0% and 99% of what is wagered.

What is the legal minimum payout percentage for slot machines in Mississippi?

Some states set the floor as low as 75%; New Jersey requires 83%.

What is the table of probabilities for a specific slot machine called?

PAR stands for Probability and Accounting Report, and they are closely guarded.

On which chip is a slot machine's payout software usually stored?

In New Jersey it carries a tamper-evident seal and can only be changed with officials present.

What is the light on top of a slot machine called?

It flashes when change is needed, a hand pay is due, or a progressive jackpot is hit.

What term for any slot machine fault comes from old electromechanical tamper switches?

Modern machines have no such switches, but a door in the wrong state is still called one.

What is a payout made by an attendant, rather than the machine, called?

It happens when a win exceeds the machine's preset limit, usually where taxes kick in.

What does TITO stand for on modern slot machines?

A thermal printer replaces the coin hopper and the barcode ticket is redeemed at a kiosk.

What is a prize pool that grows with every play until it is won called?

Machines are often linked across casinos to make it grow faster.

Which state's laws led to 'skill stop' buttons on Bally machines in the early 1970s?

The law required that players be able to control the game in some way; the machines were a hit on the Jersey Shore.

Which is the only US state with no significant restrictions on slot machines?

New Jersey allows them only in Atlantic City hotel casinos.

Which Australian state first legalised poker machines, in registered clubs in 1956?

By 1999 nearly half of Australia's gaming machines were there.

Roughly what share of the world's gambling machines were in Australia in 1999?

Per head, Australia had about five times as many as the United States.

Which Australian state confines gaming machines to a single casino, Crown Perth?

Its machines may not even use spinning reels or poker-machine symbols.

Which South Australian politician was first elected in 1997 on an anti-poker-machine ticket?

He later reached the federal Senate on the same cause.

What are the moves that let a British fruit machine player step a reel on one symbol called?

Players may also 'hold' reels before a spin.

Which UK Act replaced the Gaming Act 1968 as the law governing slot machines?

Its planned Category A 'super casino' machines never became legal after Manchester's project was cancelled.

What are Japanese slot machines, found in pachinko parlours, called?

The name fuses 'pachinko' and 'slot machine'.

In which year did Russia ban gambling establishments, wiping out its 'slot clubs'?

Vulcan 777 and Taj Mahal had been the most popular chains since 1992.

How big was the 2009 jackpot a Ho Chi Minh City casino refused to pay, calling it an error?

A court ordered payment in full in 2013; the case later settled out of court.

At which Las Vegas casino was the record $39.7 million Megabucks jackpot hit in 2003?

Josh Ford of Los Angeles won it on 21 March 2003.

Which slot cheat, inventor of the 'monkey paw' and 'lightwand', stole over $5 million?

Modern machines with bill acceptors are far harder to defraud.

What term does NYU's Natasha Dow Schüll use for the trance-like immersion of slot players?

Players lose their sense of time, space, body and money.

What was the name of the pinball game that gave Bally its name in 1932?

By the late 1960s Bally controlled over 90% of the world slot machine market.

Which English city was chosen to host the UK's planned 'Super Casino' before the project was scrapped?

The plan died soon after Gordon Brown became prime minister, so no lawful Category A machines exist in Britain.

In UK regulation, what does the fruit-machine abbreviation AWP stand for?

Category C machines in pubs and arcades must pay out at least 70 percent, and pubs often set about 78.

Inspired by food nutrition labels, Ontario's OLG trialled machine labels showing metrics such as what?

University of Waterloo professor Kevin Harrigan developed the system for the PlaySmart responsible-gambling initiative.

What term do researchers use for slot outcomes that pay back less than the wager but still trigger celebration?

Mike Dixon's studies found these outcomes were as arousing to players as genuine wins.