We’ve come a long, long way since the very first slot machine was invented back in 1895 in San Francisco. It was called the “Liberty Bell” and was created and made by a young engineer called Charles Fey who was working for the state electricity company at the time. It featured the classic three reels format and when one of the famous bells came up on each reel you won the handsome jackpot of 50 cents. The slots industry was born.
This basic design has remained the blueprint for all of the other machines that followed but, over the years, increasing levels of sophistication were added. For example, you could start to hold reels and even qualify for nudges so you could move them on to create winning combinations.
Eventually, as the technology evolved, slots started to become video machines which were computerized and which had a Random Number Generator at their heart. It was these types of slots that formed the basis for the ones that are so commonplace today on gaming websites.
As soon as the phenomenon of online casinos and other gaming sites started to take off the organizations who ran them saw just how popular slots were proving to be. To build on this momentum the focus then shifted far more on to exploiting this fact by starting to develop and evolve games to make them an even more fun and immersive experience. At the same time, digital and online technology was also opening up whole new avenues to explore in order to achieve this.
As a result, the online slots developed today by leading casino operators such as 888casino are more like video games, and sometimes even movies themselves, and are usually the work of a multi-disciplinary team featuring everyone from storyliners to scriptwriters as well as the technical wizards who turn it into reality.
Naturally, the idea behind each game is very carefully considered to make sure that it appeals to a particular group of players according to age, gender and even interest. The flexibility of being able to add games to a casino site quickly and easily means that online slots can also be used seasonally or to tie in with major sporting events like the World Cup or the Olympic Games.
Alongside this, the action of taking part in the slot is also becoming a far more immersive experience than ever before through the addition of features like video clips, pieces of music and other special effects. There are also far more player bonuses and free-plays made possible than in previous slots – including some truly life-changing progressive jackpots
That this is all proving to be exceptionally popular is plain to see with half the population of the UK predicted to be participating regularly in online gaming by the end of 2019.
As to what kinds of slots they’ll be playing by then is open to debate. But many are predicting that virtual reality will be the next really big thing to hit the industry taking it to a whole new level.
So better get ordering those VR goggles now!
The History & Future Of The Online Slots Industry
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