Jackpot history

 

After Pitt and Sittman, Charles Fey was the next to contribute to the development of the slot machine. Fey's "Liberty Bell" was developed in his basement, but quickly moved to a little more fashionable location: The Flamingo Hilton Hotel on The Strip in Las Vegas. Feys 50 kg heavy slot machine was placed in the lobby at this hotel, and was the subject of much attention. The "new" slot machine still lacked the characteristic fruit symbols, which we know from  today’s slots. Instead stars, horseshoes and a few card symbols like spades and hearts determined whether the player would win or lose. If you played "Liberty Bell" and won the main prize, you would walk away with a payout of as much as 50 cents! With Fey’s slot, the money gains, although they were relatively small, were introduced.

After his success with "Liberty Bell", Rey worked on developing a new slot machine, called "The Operator Bell Slot Machine" which has formed the basis for the slot machines we know today with its design. Besides the design, Rey also introduced the now famous fruit symbols.
 

As Rey developed his slot he ran into problems with the licenses to operate the machines. To solve this, he had to think about alternatives. Therefore, Rey redesigned the slot machines so that they looked like so-called "vending machines" - machines that we know as machines where you can drag gum, toys, candy, etc. A fun little detail emerged in the wake of this. The Bell-Fruit Company, which is said to have copied Fey’s gaming machine, began to mass-produce chewing gum machines, that triggered a chewing gum bar when pulling the handle. That is where the BAR symbol from the slots today originates. 
 

The period 1909-1911 was a difficult time for Fey and his slot machines since slot machines were illegal in San Francisco in 1909 and Nevada the following year. In 1911 they were also banned in California, and as if this were not enough, it was very popular in the 30s to be politically opposed to gambling, and especially opposed to slot machines.

During this time one of the darkest days in the Slot history occurred. In New York, the mayor lacked general support from his townspeople, and to rectify his reputation, he made a PR stunt, with the slot machines playing a major role. In his election campaign, Mayor LaGuardia took a picture of himself smashing slot machines at the Hudson River. 
 

The next important man in the row in the development of slot machines were the famous and notorious Benjamin Bugsy Biegel. Bugsy invested in a large number of slot machines for his hotel in Las Vegas, and used these to keep the girlfriends and wives of the players busy. That way he solved the problem with impatient women who would drag their husbands out of the casino. The Women were crazy about the slot machines, the men could stay at the casinos and spend more money. Slot machines were a huge hit. 
 

The early 1960s was the ultimate "grassroots" breakthrough for slot machines. During this period, the slot machines became electric. The man behind this was Bally, which is also the man who made the slots much safer and less susceptible to fraud. The success of Bally meant that people had more confidence in slot machines and thus they were suddenly much more popular in the casinos.
 
The 1970s was another milestone in the development of the slot machines. During this period, they began using microchips and so-called random number generators and the slot machine we know today was on its way. The arm or handle was now replaced by a little button, which would make the wheels spin when pushing it. Today, slots account for a huge part of the total turnover of all land-based casinos, and the same is the case at the online casinos where slots are extremely popular. This is without a doubt due to the simplicity of the slots but at the same time it’s also an entertaining game with prizes up to a million dollars.