Most people have memories of one-armed bandits, from movies, cruise ships and some even have one as a collectible. If you don´t have any memories of your own form these machines you might at least have heard about them? It hasn’t reached the same cult-status as pinball machines but it has an exciting story and is highly discussed by politicians around the globe, both now and in history.
In1862, Germany a boy called August (later changed to Charles) Fey was born, as a 15 year old youngster he moved to France but didn´t stay long. After a short stay also in England he emigrated to America in 1885. Thanks to his background in mechanical workshops he got a job at Western Electrics works. After a few years as an employed he and two friends started their own shop, mainly repairing electrical appliances and phones.
In the early 19th century slot machines had to have someone handling payments and payouts. In 1895 Fey invented a one-armed bandit that could handle the payment and payout of a win automatically. He called it the Liberty Bell Slot Machine, and it is considered the first slot machine. See what has happened to the slots since that in LeoVegas India.
Prohibited Entertainment
Gambling has been a matter of concerns of politicians since forever. Still today there are a lot of discussions running hot all over about legalizing or not legalizing gambling. In India gambling is fully prohibited in most parts, but online gambling is legal.
The shop that Mr. Feys shop owned was located in California and like in many other states and countries gambling was illegal. He placed some machines in bars around San Francisco anyway. Because it was illegal he couldn’t get a patent for his invention and he quickly had hard competition.
One of the competitors to slots today is lotteries, here are some of the online lottery options.
The machine takes it all
Well, the machine doesn’t take it all, but it always wins in the long run, that is how the owns makes money. RTP (Return To Player) is the term for how much payback it is to the gamblers, it is normally some where between 90-98%. The higher RTP the higher the payback is to the gamblers, but then normally often in small portions and regularly.
The first videoslot
It took almost 100 years with the mechanical slot machine before the first video slot saw the lights. That one also came to life in California. It was still stationary machines but the wheels got replaced by a screen where the symbols showed. The arm that is the reason for the name “one armed bandit” got replaced by a button.
Online casinos
The first online casino started in 1994 and is a global multi billion industry today. It has grown to only offer slots but all the games you can find in a casino. Even poker and roulette are live and broadcasted all over the world simultaneously.
What is in store in the future? There are already some casinos that offer VR-technology to their gamblers