Everybody knows that when you play at any online casino, by far the majority of games offered are slots. Slots have always been popular, right from when the very first slot machine was placed in a saloon bar in San Francisco, but little is known about the history behind the slot machine and how it became one of the world’s most beloved games.

The Little Known History Of The Slot Machine

That first slot was made by inventor Charles Fey in the 1880′s. He named it the Liberty Bell. After studying the problems with other prototype slots, which had five reels and therefore offered too many possible combinations, Fey produced a three wheel slot which had only five symbols on each of the reels, thus reducing the possible combinations and making it more likely for players to get a win now and then.

Fey’s Liberty Bell slot proved so popular that Fey decided to quit his job just two weeks after test-running the slot machine in the saloon. He opened up a slot machine factory and effectively started the slot machine industry. Some slots paid out fruit flavored chewing gum rather than cash as it was illegal to gamble in some states. That’s why there were symbols like pieces of fruit on the reels – and we still see those symbols in slots games today. The other symbol that often appears on slots is the BAR symbol – it was the logo for the Bell Fruit Gum Company that made the chewing gum used as prizes.

Today, the slots that you find on sites like BGO and Ladbrokes are so much more sophisticated than the original slots machines. And they’re getting more and more complex all the time, with different bonus levels and features which are accessed through landing a certain combination of symbols. Almost all online casino sites are on the forefront of these developments and invest heavily in offering new slots games. bgo, for example,  refreshed its offering with new games in early January.

You can also find a slot to suit whatever you happen to be interested in, with different games themed around film characters or TV shows, comic book superheroes and the like.

When you play at a site like BGO, you can cash in on the bonus that’s available to players opening an account and making a first deposit. Whatever you put in, you receive a 200% bonus from the site (up to a ceiling amount) and as it goes into a single gaming wallet, you can use the money on any games on the site. Though you may start out playing the slots because they’re easy to play and you don’t need to learn how to play, you might branch out into different games like blackjack and roulette, or video and table poker.

A lot depends on what you’re looking for in the games. If you want a chance of winning a life-changing amount of money, then you might want to play the progressive slots, where the jackpots grow to amazing amounts. However, you might prefer to keep bets small and develop your skills at games that require more strategy like poker or blackjack. The great thing about having an online casino account is you can dip in and out of the games you choose whenever you feel like it.

Charles Fey would no doubt be astonished if he were alive today to see how the humble slot game has been developed over the years, and that jackpots reach into millions whereas the Liberty Bell offered a maximum payout of $5.

The question now is where do slots go from here?