Discovering the History of Slot Machines
Slot machines have always been wildly popular for people of all ages and even though gambling enthusiasts are greatly aware of the high house advantage of slot machines, none of them feels regret at losing sometimes while playing the slots because it’s irresistibly fun and exciting!
Ever wondered though who was the genius who invented the first slot machine? He’s probably as rich as Croesus (read Bill Gates) by now. Actually he isn’t – but we’ll get to that later. First, let’s discuss how the slot machines invaded the world.
It was just one year before the advent of the 20th century that a man who goes by the name of Charles Fey had the genius idea of inventing the first ever slot machine. He called his baby invention the Liberty Bell.
The first slot machine was big and bulky. It was also mechanical. Instead of showing pictures of cherries and bells, the first slot machine made use of five decks of cards for all five slots. The jack of hearts and the ten of spades were usually taken out of the decks to decrease the probability of the player getting a royal flush. Because of the objective of the game, you can very well say that the first slot machine was more like a poker machine than anything else.
Now, getting back to Charles Fey and his wealth…Upon witnessing the success of his invention, Charles Fey quit his day job along with his colleague, Thomas Holtz and together, they founded the company Holtz and Fey Electric Works. Naturally, Fey being the inventor of the slot machine, their company had no troubles monopolizing the slot machine market.
Unfortunately, when a major earthquake hit San Francisco in 1906, most of Fey’s company property got destroyed and Fey was never able to regain his footing after that.
The next most important person in the history of slot machines would have to be Herbert Stephen Mill because he made the slot machine more mobile and less bulky. He decided to call his invention Mills’ Liberty Bell.
Eventually, slot machines became fully electronic and therefore not only increasing the efficiency of the payout systems but also the house advantage as well. While it was highly probable to find a loophole in the old slot machine models, the Random Number Generator used in fully electronic slot machines made discovering the same flaws impossible and obsolete.
We hope you had fun discovering the history of slot machines. Till next time. Au revoir!
