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Slot machines in the Trump Taj Mahal
A slot machine (American English), poker machine (Australian English), or fruit machine (British English) is a certain type of casino game. Classically, a slot machine is a coin-operated machine with three or more reels that rotate when a lever on the side of the machine is pulled. The machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or money inserted to play. (The slot machine is also known informally as a one-armed bandit because of its appearance.) The machine typically 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. Today, slot machines have become one of the most popular attractions in casinos.
The first gambling machine was developed by Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn in 1891. It contained 5 drums holding a total of 50 card faces and was based on poker. They proved extremely popular and soon there was hardly a bar in the city that didn't have one or more of the machines bar-side. Players would insert a nickel and press 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 you a free beer, whereas a Royal Flush could payout cigars or drinks, the prizes wholly dependant on what was on offer at the local establishment. In order 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 1895 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California, who devised a much simpler automatic mechanism. 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.
Another early machine gave out winning in the form of fruit flavoured chewing gums with pictures of the flavours as symbols on the reels. The popular cherry and melon symbols derive from this machine. The "BAR" symbol now common in slot machines was derived from an early logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company. In 1964, Bally developed the first fully electromechanical slot machine called Money Honey.
A row of "Wheel of Fortune" slot machines in a casino in Las Vegas. This specific slot machine is loosely based on the TV game show Wheel of Fortune
A person playing a slot machine purchases the right to play by inserting coins, cash, or in newer machines, a bar-coded paper ticket (known as "ticket in/ticket out" machines), into a designated slot on the machine. The machine is then activated by means of a lever or button, or on newer machines, by pressing a touchscreen on its face. The game itself may or may not involve skill on the player's part — or it may create the illusion of involving skill without actually being anything else than a game of chance. The object of the game is to win money from the machine. The game usually involves matching symbols, either on mechanical reels which spin and stop to reveal one or several symbols, or on a video screen. The symbols are usually brightly colored and easily recognizable, such as images of fruits, and simple shapes such as bells, diamonds, or hearts.
Most games have a variety of winning combinations of symbols, often posted on the face of the machine. If a player matches a combination according to the rules of the game, the slot machine pays the player cash or some other sort of value, such as extra games.
There are many different kinds of gambling slot machines in places such as Las Vegas. Some of the most popular are the video poker machines, in which players hope to obtain a set of symbols corresponding to a winning poker hand. There are standard 5-card draw machines, all the way up to 100-play machines, where you can play 100 hands at a time.
Becoming more popular now are the 9 line slots. Usually these are themed slots (Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie, etc.) with a bonus round. Most accept variable amounts of credit to play with 1 to 5 credits per line being typical. The higher the amount bet, the higher the payout will be.
Of course, there are the standard 3 - 5 reel slot machines, of various types. These are the typical "one-armed bandits".
One of the main differences between video slots and reel slots is in the way payouts are calculated. With reel slots, the only way to win the maximum jackpot is to play the maximum number of coins (usually 3, sometimes 4, or even 5 coins per spin). With video slots, the fixed payout values are multiplied by the number of coins per line that are being bet. In other words: on a reel slot, it is to the player's advantage to play with the maximum number of coins available. On video slots, it is recommended to play as many individual lines as possible, but there is no benefit to the player in betting more than one credit per line with regards to calculating the payout amounts. (There are some isolated cases where a video slot machine requires the maximum number of credits per spin to be inserted to win the largest payout, but those are the exception.) An example: On the "Wheel of Fortune" reel slot, the player must play 3 coins per spin to be eligible to trigger the bonus round and possibly win the jackpot. On the Wheel of Fortune video slot, the chances of triggering the bonus round or winning the maximum jackpot are exactly the same regardless of the number of coins bet on each line.
Larger casinos offer slot machines with denominations from $.01 (penny slots) all the way up to $100.00 or more per credit. Large denomination slot machines are usually cordoned off from the rest of the casino into a "High Limit" area, often with a separate team of hosts to cater to the needs of the high-rollers who play there.
Slot machines common in casinos at this time are more complicated. Most allow players to accept their winnings as credits which may be "spent" on additional spins.
In the last few years, new slot machines commonly known as "multi-denomination" have been introduced. In a multi-denomination slot machine, the player can choose the value of each credit wagered from a list of options. Based upon the player's selection, the slot machine automatically calculates the number of credits the player receives in exchange for the cash inserted and displays the amount of available credits to the player. (For example, a player could choose to wager one dollar per game on a nickel slot machine.) This eliminates the need for a player to find a specific denomination of a particular slot machine; they can concentrate on simply finding the machine and setting the denomination once they decide to play.
Recently, some casinos have chosen to take advantage of a concept commonly known as "tokenization": 1 token buys more than one credit. A casino can congifure slot machines of numerous different denominations to accept the same type of token. (For example, all penny, nickel, quarter, and dollar slot machines could be configured to accept dollar tokens.) This significantly reduces a casino's inventory costs and coin handling costs. A tokenized slot machine automatically calculates the number of credits the player receives in exchange for the token inserted and displays the amount of available credits to the player. When a player chooses to collect his credits (by pressing a "Cash Out" button), the slot machine will automatically divide the number of credits on the credit meter by the value of one token and return the result to the patron. Any remainder is known as "residual credits" and cannot be collected. Residual credits must be either played or abandoned.
A coin hopper is a container where the coins that are immediately available for payouts are held. The hopper is a mechanical device that rotates coins into the coin tray when a player collects his credits/coins (by pressing a "Cash Out" button). When a certain preset coin capacity is reached, a coin diverter automatically redirects, or "drops", excess coin into a "drop bucket" or "drop box".
A drop bucket or drop box is a container located in a slot machine's base where excess coins are diverted from the hopper. Typically, a drop bucket is used for low denomination slot machines and a drop box is used for high denomination slot machines. A drop box contains a hinged lid with one or more locks whereas a drop bucket does not contain a lid. The contents of drop buckets and drop boxes are collected and counted by the casino on a scheduled basis.
Shortpay refers to a payout made by a slot machine, less than the amount indicated by the payout schedule. Occurs when the coin hopper becomes depleted during a payout and the remaining amount is paid to the player by a hand pay.
Hand Pay is when the slot attendant or cage gives the player a cash payout, rather than the actual slot machine paying out from the coin hopper. A hand pay may be automatically requested by the slot machine if the total credits on the machine is greater than a certain number of coins (typically 1,000).
A hopper fill slip is a document used to record the replenishments of the coin in the coin hopper which are required as a result of payouts to players. The slip indicates the amount of coin placed into the hoppers, as well as the signatures of the employees involved in the transaction, the slot machine number and the location and the date.
Weight count is an American casino term, refering to the dollar amount of coins or tokens removed from a slot machine's drop bucket or drop box and counted by the caino's hard count team through the use of a weigh scale.
Optimal play is a payback percentage based on a gambler using the optimal strategy in a skill-based slot machine game.
The Theoretical Hold Worksheet is a worksheet provided by the manufacturer for all slot machines which indicates the theoretical percentage that the slot machine should hold based on adequate levels of coin-in. The worksheet also indicates the reel strip settings, number of coins that may be played, the payout schedule, the number of reels and other information descriptive of the particular type of slot machine.
Each machine has a table that lists the number of credits the player will receive if the symbols listed on the pay table line up on the pay line of the machine. Some symbols are wild and will pay if they are visible in any position, even if they are not on the pay line. Especially on older machines, the pay table is listed on the face of the machine, usually above and below the area containing the wheels. Most video machines display the pay table when the player presses a "pay table" button or touches "pay table" on the screen; some have the pay table listed on the cabinet as well.
It is a common belief that the odds on a machine have something to do with the number of each kind of symbol on each reel, but in modern slot machines this is no longer the case. Modern slot machines are computerized, so that the odds are whatever they are programmed to be. For instance, if the jackpot combination is "7-7-7", slot machine owners can fool/tease people by making "7-7-(non-7)" come up frequently. In modern slot machines, the reels and lever are present for historical and entertainment reasons only. The positions the reels will come to rest on are chosen by a Random Number Generator contained in the machine's software as soon as the lever is pulled or the "Play" button is pressed.
Slot machines are typically programmed to pay out as winnings between 82 to 98 percent of the money that is wagered by players. This is known as the "theoretical payout percentage". The minimum theoretical payout percentage varies among jurisdictions and is typically established by law or regulation. For example, the minimum payout percentage in Nevada is 75 percent and in New Jersey is 83 percent. The winning patterns on slot machines, the amounts they pay, and the frequency at which they appear are carefully selected to yield a certain percentage of the cost of play to the "house" (the operator of the slot machine), while returning the rest to the player during play. Suppose that a certain slot machine costs $1 per spin. It can be calculated that over a sufficiently long period, such as 1,000,000 spins, that the machine will return an average of $950,000 to its players, who have inserted $1,000,000 during that time. In this (simplified) example, the slot machine is said to pay out 95%. The operator keeps the remaining $50,000.
A slot machine's theoretical payout percentage is set at the factory when the software is written. Changing the payout percentages after a slot machine has been placed on the gaming floor requires a physical swap of the software which is usually stored on an EPROM but may be downloaded to Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) or even stored on CD-ROM or DVD depending on the technological capabilities of the machine and the regulations of the jurisdiction. Based on current technology, this is a time consuming process and as such is done infrequently. In certain jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, the EPROM is sealed with a tamper-evident seal and can only be changed in the presence of the state Gaming Control Board. Other jurisdictions, including Nevada, randomly audit slot machines to ensure that they contain only approved software.
Often machines are linked together in a way that allows a group of machines to offer a particularly large prize, or "jackpot". Each slot machine in the group contributes a small amount to this progressive jackpot, which is awarded to a player who gets (for example) a royal flush on a video poker machine, or a specific combination of symbols on a regular or 9 line slot machine. The amount paid for the progressive jackpot is usually far higher than any single slot machine could pay on its own.
In some cases multiple machines are linked across multiple casinos. In these cases, the machines may be owned by the machine maker who is responsible for paying the jackpot. The casinos lease the machines rather than owning them outright. Megabucks may be the best known example of this type of machine. Megabucks Nevada starts at $7,000,000 after a jackpot. The new penny Megabucks video game has a jackpot that starts at $10,000,000.
Slot machines that are not linked to a large regional jackpot such as Megabucks usually have higher payout percentages, as linked machines have to take into consideration the large jackpot amount into their payout percentage calculations.
In the United States, the public and private availability of slot machines is highly regulated by state governments. Nevada is the only state that has no significant restrictions against slot machines both for public and private use. In New Jersey, slot machines are only allowed in hotel-casinos operated in Atlantic City. Several states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri) allow slot machines (as well as any casino-style gambling) only on licensed riverboats or permanently anchored barges. Native American casinos on reservations cannot have true slot machines unless allowed by the state that the tribal casino is located in (per Indian Gaming Act).
Some states have restrictions on the types of slot machines that can be used in a casino or other gaming area. "Class III" slot machines are machines without restrictions, most often seen in Las Vegas or Atlantic City (commonly referred to as "Vegas-style slots"). Some casinos are in states that require them to use "Class II" slot machines, which usually have a player skill requirement attached. The primary difference between a Class III machine and a Type II machine is that with a Class III machine, a player's chance of winning any payout is the same with every play, and each machine operates independently of each other. A Class II machine mimics bingo or scratch-off lottery tickets in that all the machines are linked to play against each other, pulling a predetermined number of winning combinations from a central database and distributing those to all machines.
For a list of state by state regulations on private slot machine ownership.
Many American casinos offer free memberships in "slot clubs", which return a small percentage of the amount of money that is bet in the form of "comps" (complimentary food, drinks, hotel rooms, or merchandise), or sometimes as cash back (sometimes with a restriction that the cash be redeemed at a later date). These clubs require that players use a card that is inserted into the slot machine, to allow the casino to track the player's "action" (how much the player bets and for how long), which is often used to establish a level of play that may make a player eligible for additional comps. Comps or cash back from these clubs can make a significant difference in the maximum theoretical return when playing slot machines over a long period of time.
Generally referred to as poker machines or pokies, but officially known as 'Gaming Machines', Australia has one of the highest concentration of poker machines per head of population in the world, with changes in regulations leading to a profusion of poker machine venues across the country. Various objectors, including many branches of the clergy and also charities for the poor, have criticised the spread of the machines, as they claim that it has led to a huge rise in the levels of "problem gambling" - gambling to a level that causes financial and social stress to the gambler and their families, as well as the general levels of gambling.
Australian-style poker machines use video displays to simulate (usually) five physical reels. These machines also have additional bonusing and second-screen features such as free games and bonus levels. They also allow for multiple lines (up to 50) or multiple ways (up to 243 ways) to be played. This higher level of complexity has meant that greater revenues can be obtained by operators, but also that the potential for problem gambling to develop is increased.
Poker machines are found in casinos (approximately one in each major city) as well as pubs and clubs (usually sports, social, or RSL clubs). This greater accessibililty is also seen as a potential contributor to problem gambling.
The first Australian state to legalise this style of gambling was NSW in 1956 when they were made legal in all registered clubs in the state.
Most problem gamblers attending counselling through Gamblers Help report poker machines as the problematic form of gambling. Due to this there is a significant focus on the regulation of multi-hand poker machines, and many groups are advocating for legislative change.
Laws governing gambling in Australia are controlled at the state level and as such, they vary from state to state. In the state of Queensland gaming machines in pubs and clubs must provide a return rate of 60% while machines located in casinos must provide a return rate of 90%.
Slot machines are often known as fruit machines and AWP (Amusement with Prizes) in Britain. Slot machines are commonly found in pubs, clubs, arcades, and some take-away food shops. These machines commonly have 3 or 6 reels with around 16 or 24 fruit symbols printed around them. These reels are spun, and if certain combinations of fruit appear, winnings are paid from the machine, or subgames are played. These are very similar to slot machines seen in casinos and elsewhere around the world, but the term "fruit machine" is usually applied to a type of machine more commonly found in pubs and arcades. These games have lots of extra features, trails and subgames with opportunities to win money, usually more than can be won from just the reels. However, the jackpots from these fruit machines are strictly limited with many machines paying no more than a maximum of £25 in any one win.
It is known for machines to payout multiple jackpots, one after the other, this is known as a streak but each jackpot requires a new game to be played (circumventing the maximum £25 pound per game rule). Private members clubs are allowed "club machines" which have higher jackpots.
These machines also operate in a different fashion to American slot machines; whereas slots are programmed to pay a percentage over the long-run, there is no reason why a jackpot cannot be paid straight after one has already been won - this is because over the long-run the percentage payout will be the same. However, in the UK, a fruit machine takes on an amount above its payout percentage before winning, so if a payout is 95%, a machine will make the player lose £10 before paying out £9.50. As such, it is sensible to watch for people playing these machines but not winning as the likelihood of a win increases. This, however, is called Sharking.
This type of fruit machine is popular across Europe (in the countries where they are legal), and very popular in countries such as the Czech Republic, Russia, and Ukraine.
The minimum payout percentage is 70% in Britain, with pubs often setting the payout at around 78%.
It has been alleged by the Fairplay campaign that UK fruit machines employ fraudulent techniques in which gambles and chances which appear to be random are in fact pre-determined and cannot be affected by player choices. 1
...at this point, you'll have gambled the win up to £25. However, the machine doesn't want you to gamble any further. If from the 5 you select "High", the machine will spin in a 3 and you'll lose. If, on the other hand, you select "Low", the machine will spin in a 9 and you'll lose...
The claims centre around the emulation of fruit machine hardware on computers, which allow for the machines RAM state to be saved at a particular point and replayed making a different choice. The fruit machine industry has hit back at the allegations. Currently the issue has supposedly been considered by the UK Gaming Board (now the Gambling Commission) and warning notices and possibly modifications are to be put in place, though it is unclear as to whether this has happened.
Japan has has a relatively new history in slot machines, roughly since after the American occupation during the World War II era. Most machines can be found in Pachinko parlors and the adult sections of amusement arcades, known as game centers.
The machines are regulated with IC chips, and has six different levels changing the odds of a "777". The levels provide a rough outcome of between 90% to an astonishing 160% (200% if using skills). Indeed, the Japanese slot machines are "beatable".
Despite the many varieties of the machines, there are certain rules and regulations put forward by a commission. For example, there must be three reels. Also, all reels must be accompanied by buttons which stop these reels, etc.