Slot Machines

In the casino world, slot machines are among the most popular games, both online and offline. There simplicity is alluring, they come in a variety of different types, take a variety of bets and are never boring to play. Casinos love them too, often they get to keep 70% of all profits, the rest going to the manufacturers from whom they are leased.

The advantages of profits for the house varies depending on the location of the machines and whether or not the casino is online or real-life. But either way, the profit margins are very generous and that is why they are found everywhere.

The first slot machine was invented in the 1880's by a man called Charles Fey from California. They were manufactured from his basement workshop and he leased them out to various casinos located near his home. The images he used on the reels were of various fruits and that is why today slot machines are also known as fruit machines. The mechanics worked by the customer entering a coin which unlocked the arm that could then be pulled down to set the reels in motion. Because the machines did not pay out that often, or so it seemed to the punter, they were called one armed bandits because of the perceived theft.

Likelihood of winning:
The slot machine is the game of choice for casino managers to have installed because they are so reliable at earning money. The amount of money paid out is always less than the amount paid in, in the long run. The amount by which the pay out and pay in vary is known as the ‘dividend percentage', so if the payout is 90% this means that the casino will always make 10%, effectively, punters are playing against each other and it is purely a matter of whether the machine wants to pay out when you are playing or not- lurkers take advantage of this, they lurk around slot machines and if they see someone put in a lot of money and then leave the machine they will quickly put in money and try to win the money already paid in. today, machines are fitted with what is called a Random Number Generator, which keeps track of the pay-in and pay-outs and works out the dividend percentage.

The best strategy to adopt when playing on the slot machines is to try and bear in mind that it is for entertainment purposes, and not to be played in order to make money, if you play in the latter fashion you are likely to play far too much money, that's just human nature. Organise your money before you play and then divide it up in to portions and play according to the following rules, use the first portion on one particular machine, if it doesn't pay out spend the next portion on another machine, do this because if a machine does not payout within a certain number of spins, it is unlikely to be in a paying out mode at that moment. Once you have used up all four portions, stop playing, don't go down the road of chasing after your losses, it is very, very rare that you will ever recuperate from losses.

There are a number of different types of slot machines in today's casinos.

Video:
Terrestrial casinos now often feature Video slot machines, these consist of computer simulations of the spinning reels, they often have very high standard graphics, and are similar to the slot machines featured on online casinos. There are a lot of casino games that are played on video, from blackjack to poker. For the slot machines there are many variations, from the number of winning lines to the number of reels.

Progressive Slots:
Progressive slot machines are connected to other machines on a network, for every coin entered into any of the networked machines, a percentage will go towards a collective jackpot that can be won on any of the machines in the network. There can be hundreds of machines connected to the progressive jackpot and in some casinos the total of the jackpot reaches hundreds of thousands of dollars, on some online casinos, the jackpots reach several millions.

Multipliers:
These machines will multiply the amount of the payout depending on how many coins you choose to play for each spin of the reel, for example if you put in £3 on one spin you will win more than if you place a £3 bet on 3 spins of the reel.

Multipliers with a wild bonus:
These work on the same principle as above, except that they have a symbol on the reels that is called a wild symbol and will substitute for any other symbol. If you win on a line with a wild bonus, you will often win a much higher amount than you otherwise would. Wild symbols are a very popular addition to the slot machine because the game is a lot more exiting and they thus attract more gamblers.

Multiple pay line slots (multi-liners):
As the name implies, these machines have more than one possible winning line, unlike the more traditional slot machines that you might find in a pub or bar. Some machines have up to 25 pay out lines, they come in all kinds of patterns from the simple straight across line, to a convoluted zigzag line.

Buy-your-pay:
There is only one payout line here, the winning combination is determined by the amount of money that is played for each spin. In order to win the jackpot on this type of machine you will often have to pay quite a high amount.

Slots are the choice of game for the gambling beginner, they are fun, exciting and it is easy to understand the bets,. Just be careful to keep an eye on the amount of money you are playing with, plan a budget before you play at the casino or on the internet.