What are slot machines?
Slot machines originated in the 19th century and have since grown into a multi-million dollar industry with North America leading the way.
Slot machines, also known as fruit machines, puggies and slots, are gambling games often found in casinos, bars and service stations. The machines have spinning reels that display symbols, and winnings are determined by which symbols randomly appear when a player places a bet.
These games have been around since the late 19th century. They were originally mechanical devices that used springs and gears to spin the reels. They’ve been modernised a great deal since then and now use digital random number generators, which make the games more flexible in many ways.
Nowadays, slots are one of the most popular forms of gambling in the world. The market was valued at US$3.2bn in 2018 and is projected to reach US$5bn by 2025.
Slot machines offer different themes, payouts (the list of available prizes), symbols and special features around the world, but generally the process of the game is the same: players insert money, adjust the size of their bet, and press the button to spin the reels. If any of the winning combinations appear, it’s a win.
Types of slot machines
Multi-coin/multi-line: on these machines, bettors can choose how many paylines they want to play as well as the number of coins to put on each line. Traditionally, coins were fixed at one per line but such machines are losing popularity. An advantage of multi-line machines is that the more paylines, the higher the chance of securing a winning spin.
Buy-a-pay: in this type of slot, every extra coin wagered gives the player access to additional winning combinations.
Hidden buy-a-pay: this terms refers to slots that feature bonus events that can be accessed when a player bets the maximum amount of coins. These can be detected by checking the paytable and seeing if there’s any sort of bonus that can only be activated by playing the maximum amount of coins.
Straight multi-player: with this type of slot, a player can activate all winning combinations by betting just one coin. If additional coins are played, they serve to increase winning multipliers thus providing bigger returns for the player.
Bonus multiplier: this type of slot functions in the same way as straight multi-players, except that there is also a bonus payout that can be activated only with maximum coins.
Progressive: on progressives, a small percentage of each wager goes towards the top prize, which continues to rise until someone gets the necessary combination of symbols. Once that is achieved, the figure resets. Most progressives require players to wager the maximum amount of coins to be eligible for the top prize.
Combination: these machines combine the types of games listed above. If you’re ever unsure what a machine has to offer, check the paytable.
