Online Slots Guide

How to Play

Playing a casino slot is about the easiest thing you can do. You insert money and push a button, it’s that simple. There are certain aspects to a slot game though that can help maximize your gaming opportunities. For instance virtually all slot games offer bonus rounds and in addition it helps to learn the pay out lines for a particular slot game.

Odds and Payouts

The odds of winning will vary greatly depending on which casino slot you are playing. Every online slots is different and the pay structure will be unique. Overall though slot games offer some of the best chances of winning out of all the casino games. Some casinos tout 99.7% payouts, this means that if you were to play the slot machine over a long period of time, you would win 99.7% of the time.

This is in contrast to some other casino games that can have up to a 10% house edge. The good odds is what makes online slots so popular.

Slot Machines Types

These days you can find many different kinds of slot machines. You can find 3 reel slots and 5 reels slots, some with 10 pay lines and other with up to 100 or more and progressive slot games where the jackpot pool keeps on increasing as people bet and can offer payouts of over $1M. One of the most popular casino software providers Microgaming offers over 300 different types of slot games.

The trend in today’s market seems to be the themed slots, based on some form of pop-culture like a popular movie or game such as Lord of the Rings , Tomb Raider and The Dark Knight

Slot Machine History

The first slot machine was developed in California by Charles Fey in 1887. The first machines were rudimentary at best at had very little bells and whistles. They were originally called bell machines for the prominent placement of the Liberty Bell symbol on the reels. The Liberty Bell is a famous American landmark that represents their victory against the British.

They would go on to take many shapes and acquire new names such as the “One arm bandit” for its iconic lever on the side. In today’s world we rarely see these types of machines as most are operated by pushing a button. However you can still find ones that implement the lever for those who like the nostalgia of the old times.

Today we call them video slots because of the graphics they display. They no longer use mechanical reels. Instead they use a video monitor to display the main part of the slot. The first video was made out of old Sony tube TV and placed in a giant wood cabinet that housed a giant processor or computer. This processor in the modern world would be the size of a thumb drive, but in the late 70’s the home computer was the size of your living room.