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Casino & Slots

FROM SITTMAN & PITT TO INTERCASINO: THE HISTORY OF THE HUMBLE SLOT MACHINE

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Love online slots? But ever wonder how it all started? Grab a coffee and get comfy. 

So, even though online “slots” don’t actually have a coin slot, they still keep the name, and in the UK they are still referred to as “fruit machines” and in Australia as “pokies” – keeping their long heritage alive and well. 

 

Mechanical Affairs In 19th Century New York Bars

Okay, to find the very first “slot machine” we need to journey back to Victorian New York, where the locally-based company Sittman and Pitt created a purely mechanical machine featuring 5 drums and 50 playing cards – yes, actual playing cards. It could be found at the less salubrious bars across the rapidly growing city, costing a nickel to play. However, being a 100% mechanical device, it was possible for patient players to identify patterns and work out effective strategies for winning. Needless to say, they weren’t welcome at the bars. 

To address this rather pressing issue, the manufacturers tinkered with the machine to give the house a bigger edge – namely by removing the jack of hearts and ten of spades, which reduced the odds of getting a royal flush by 50%. All things considered, these machines were really more of a kind of poker machine than today’s slot games, but they were where it all began. 

 

 

Gaming With An American Icon: The Liberty Bell

Indeed, slot machines really came of age courtesy of an American inventor named Charles Augustus Fey. Sometime between 1887 and 1895, Fey constructed the first automatic slot machine. Unlike the Sittman and Pitt devices, Fey’s investigation uses only three reels, considerably simplifying things. In fact, it replaced the pack of playing cards with just five symbols – symbols that are still with us today, namely the hearts, diamonds, spades, horseshoes and liberty bell (named after the iconic symbol of American independence located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). 

In fact, Fey’s machine was actually named The Liberty Bell, after that iconic symbol – which also formed the highest payout combination. Of course, in the spirit of enterprise, other manufacturers soon came out with their own versions of the machine, and because Fey hadn’t patented his invention, he lost a potential fortune. But, from our point of view, the competition it kicked off was crucial – with companies striving to innovate and outdo each other. 

 

Mill’s Sweet Solution To A Real-money Ban 

But, boom! Just like that, the entire evolution of the slot machine nearly came to a grinding halt, when in 1902 machines paying out cash were banned across the United States at the federal level. 

Though that could have been the end of the humble slot machine, a certain Herbert Mills, from Chicago, saved the day using candy. Yep. While machines paying out money were illegal, there was no law against sweet winnings, and in 1907 he set up his factory to produce the “Operator Bell” machine, which paid winnings in candy instead of hard cash. Mill’s machine is why we have the BAR symbol on slots today. The symbol was a reference to the Bell-Fruit company logo, which supplied chewing gum prizes for the machines. 

Within a few years, Operator Bell slots machines were installed all over the Windy City, at tobacconists, salons, bowling alleys, and crucially, at the gas stations which were popping up everywhere as car ownership exploded. 

 

 

The Swinging 60’s: Time For Money Honey Baby, Yeah!

Despite this progress, the slot machines of early 20th century America were still very different in many ways from the even the land-based slots found in casinos today – the games from which every online slot evolved. In fact, the next truly major breakthrough regarding slots would have to wait until the 1960s. 

In 1964, ‘Money Honey’ was launched, and changed everything. Until that point all slots had been 100% mechanical contraptions. This meant that, given enough patience and brains, it was theoretically possible to predict outcomes. In practice, it was almost impossible, but the key thing was that people believed it to be possible. However, Money Honey introduced electromechanical technology to the field, instantly raising the level of sophistication. 

Despite the technological advances, the manufacturer opted to retain the traditional side handle – from which slots derived their “one armed bandits” moniker. This helped smooth the transition for players, and let them retain their sense of personal, physical control – and, critically, it helped perpetuate the feeling that players could exercise some degree of direct influence over the results. Again, within a few years, the innovations of the Money Honey trailblazer were commonplace in the casino of Las Vegas and beyond. 

 

 

From The Space Race To The Internet

Less than ten years after Money Honey’s launch, at the height of the Cold War and the Space Race, Las Vegas-based manufacturer Fortune Coin debuted its Fortune Coin machine at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. Equipped with a “huge” 19 inch Sony television set, it coincided almost exactly with the birth of the video game industry. Indeed, Fortune Coin was so revolutionary and inspired so many people that just a couple of years later, international gambling tech giant IGT acquired the manufacturer, and proceeded to invest in the machine’s development. In 1986 this resulted in Megabucks – the world’s very first progressive slot machine. But, although there was continual innovation, the pace of change was somewhat lethargic, until the mid 1990s. 

In 1994, when the internet was just starting to become widely known in the western countries, and dial-up modems were started to be installed widely in schools, colleges and large businesses, the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda became the world’s first jurisdiction to formally legalise online slots. Two years later, in 1996, InterCasino became the world’s very first online casino. In the same year, WMS Industries Inc. released “Reel’Em”, the first video slot with a second screen bonus round. The scene was now set for the rise of the video slot and online casino we know and love today – which evolved rapidly as personal computers and internet access proliferated. 

So, next time you’re enjoying a session at your favourite online casino, pay a thought to the pioneers like Sittman and Pitt, Charles Augustus Fey, and Herbert Mills. 

 

Staying with online gambling history, in early February 2021, Intertops marked the 25th anniversary of accepting the world’s first online sports wager.

 

 

 

 

Co-founder and Chief Editor of AYO.NEWS: Coming from an art and design background, Oliver has a passion for video games and esports, and has several years of experience working at the heart of the iGaming and sports betting industry in Malta.

Casino & Slots

ENTAIN PUTS F1 FANS IN DRIVING SEAT WITH EXCLUSIVE MCLAREN RACING CONTENT

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Image credit: Entain / McLaren

Entain, the global sports betting, gaming and interactive entertainment group, has announced exclusive McLaren Racing content for Formula 1 fans. 

The partnership between the team and Entain’s PartyCasino and partypoker brands launched at the start of this year’s F1 season with the Monaco Grand Prix in May. The company will now be running international TV adverts until the end of the season in late December, and is promising customers “special access to the McLaren F1 team” through the two gaming brands. 

“We want Party to be a destination for customers around the world who enjoy games and sharing experiences around the sports and activities they love,” said Paris Anatolitis, Managing Director of Party Brands and Commercial Director of Entain. “This is about creating recreational content which encourages people to take a look and explore new ways of enjoying themselves with our brands.”

A range of new offers are also being launched to coincide with the new campaign, including Super Fan competitions, videos giving fans a look behind the scenes at McLaren Racing, and an exclusive free-to-play McLaren F1 game. 

Further exclusive content and experiences are also planned for 2022.

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Casino & Slots

PRAGMATIC PLAY LAUNCHES “JOHN HUNTER AND THE QUEST FOR BERMUDA RICHES™”

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Pragmatic Play, a leading content provider to the iGaming industry, is back with another instalment to its iconic John Hunter series in latest release, John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches™.

As the title suggests, the 7×7 slot title invites players to hunt for hidden treasure in the pink-sand beaches and deep waters that encompass the territory of Bermuda.

Thanks to the Tumble feature, symbols that have been part of a win will disappear, and the symbols above will tumble down and take their place. The game will then play with this new collection of symbols as a new game with no cost to the player. This process may be repeated until there is no win.

Regular golden Wild symbols will occasionally turn into Cursed Wilds. Cursed Wilds are upgraded with an x2 multiplier, or extra wilds will be randomly placed on the grid.

Money symbols with random cash values will land on the grid in the base game, and if players land a Collect symbol at the same time, all the values are collected. The only catch is that there are four different Collect symbols, each with its own unique requirements and rewards.

Landing three or more Scatter symbols can trigger wins worth up to 100x the player’s stake and will unleash the Free Spins feature, along with 12 free spins. Players willing to buy this feature can, but it will cost them 100x their total stake each time they want to access it.

The Quest for Bermuda Riches is the latest instalment in the wildly successful John Hunter series, following his adventures in The Mayan GodsThe Book of TutThe Tomb of the Scarab QueenAztec Treasure and Da Vinci’s Treasure.

The new release arrives in the wake of recent hits Cash Bonanza™, Mystic Chief™, and Piggy Bank Bills™, which reside amongst a collection of over 200 HTML5 titles in Pragmatic Play’s award-winning games portfolio.

Yossi Barzely, Chief Business Development Officer at Pragmatic Play, said: “The John Hunter series has become a staple of our portfolio, and we’re thrilled to inject new life into it with the launch of John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches™.

“We’re always looking for new ways to entertain our customers with exciting content, and the John Hunter series presents us with the perfect opportunity to continue an epic narrative with equally thrilling mechanics.”

Pragmatic Play currently produces up to five new slot titles a month, while also delivering Live Casino and Bingo games as part of its multi-product portfolio, available through one single API.

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Casino & Slots

RUSH STREET INTERACTIVE LAUNCHES “RUSHARENA” MULTIPLAYER TOURNAMENT ENGINE

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Image credit: Rush Street Interactive

Rush Street Interactive (RSI), operator of the BetRivers, PlaySugar House, and RushBet online casino and sportsbook brands, has unveiled RushArena™ – a new multiplayer tournament engine.

The new platform was created to offer peer-to-peer promotional games that extend player experiences, allowing players to compete head-to-head on their own time, and builds off RSI’s success with its popular bingo games. 

RSI’s initial execution of RushArena is RushRace™ which offers the following:

  • Permits players to join at any time in the tournament window 
  • Tournaments are designed so players can choose from a wide number of game selections
  • Players can switch games during the tournament to try their luck at a different title
  • Players can start with different balances and win based on a wide range of different outcomes  
  • Players can adjust wager amounts based on desired strategy 
  • Leader boards and player positions are updated in real time and can be viewed while competing 
  • Tournament entries may be awarded by a wide range of methods, including purchases from RSI’s proprietary bonus store using bonus store points

“Enhancing the player experience remains our top business strategy,” said Richard Schwartz, CEO of RSI. “We listen to our customers, and by owning, building and innovating the framework, we can tailor our games to deliver what our casino players, or insights obtained from them, have told us they want.  We use these ground-breaking game mechanics to create new experiences, which is consistent with our goal to increase retention, loyalty, and business KPIs.”

The engine used to create RushArena and its RushRaces will also soon be employed to create peer-to-peer competition events, which will allow BetRivers.com, PlaySugarHouse.com, and RushBet patrons to challenge each other in fun and rewarding battles.

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Casino & Slots

BETSOFT GAMING RELEASES CRIME CAPER OF THE YEAR WITH “RETURN TO PARIS™”

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Renowned content provider, Betsoft Gaming, once again shows its provenance as the market leader for true cinematic iGaming slots with stunning release Return to Paris™. Following the smash hit A Night In Paris™, the Thief with an eye for an antique is back – and so is the Cop, looking to hunt him down! Loaded with frequent wins, Multipliers, explosive Wilds and an engaging Free Spins round, this five reel 20 payline slot is the cartoon crime caper of the year.

Welcome to Paris by night: the romantically lit boulevards and shimmering Eiffel Tower are the backdrop to the museum, full of priceless artwork – including the Mona Lisa – and the crown jewels. On duty is the Cop, ready to protect Paris’ artefacts from the light-fingered Thief. Each piece of stolen artwork has its own Multiplier – the more you recover of each symbol, the higher the Multiplier! It’s a race against time as the Thief must put his loot in the unique bar-counter under the grid and build up the Multipliers before the Cop catches up with him.

Studded with fabulous graphics, Return to Paris™ showcases Betsoft’s trademark cinematic skills. Jewels and statues are the high value symbols and a Monet-inspired painting is the WILD. The Thief steals a nearby symbol and stashes it in his collection whilst taking its place on the reels. Each theft increases the on-screen MULTIPLIER COUNTER by one and a random symbol will replace the stolen one as the Thief moves on. Spin the reels to find the Cop. With a screech of tyres and a wailing siren, he will chase the Thief around the grid to put him behind bars and return the stolen goodies. The player gets a win PLUS the built-up Multiplier. The Multiplier is then reset to 1 and the chase starts all over again.

The big draw is the Mona Lisa and this fulsome lady is clearly loving her starring role as the SCATTER. Appearing only on reels 2, 3 and 4, when THREE Mona Lisas appear, the FREE SPINS round is triggered. You’ve seen the Mona Lisa but we bet you have never seen a FREE SPINS round like this!

The open-ended round starts with the Cop and the Thief in opposite corners of the grid. Each spin moves them vertically or horizontally in a random direction. The Thief continues to steal everything in his path, adding constantly to the Multiplier as the Cop chases him down.

Until they meet on adjacent squares, Free Spins will keep triggering – with up to 1,000 FREE SPINS to be had!

The trusty law enforcement officer will return all the stolen art at the end of Free Spins and the player will receive a Five of a Kind equivalent payout PLUS any built up Multipliers from the symbols. The Multiplier is then reset to 1 and the chase is back on!

The Cop is no pushover however: not content with just chasing the Thief and returning his ill-gotten gains, when they both appear adjacently on the reels – horizontally or vertically – things get hot. A bundle of dynamite rolls on to the screen and BOOM! All symbols become Wilds in the WILD EXPLOSION feature bringing even more big win chances your way.

With high frequency hit rates in the base game and super high frequency hit rates of 82.97% in the Free Spins round PLUS 1056x your stake to be had, it’s not surprising that everyone will Return To Paris™ this autumn!

Anna Mackney, Head of Account Management, Betsoft Gaming, said: ‘Betsoft Gaming has surpassed even its own legendary cinematographic skills with Return to Paris™. The incredible attention to detail makes this release fresh with every replay. The atmospheric soundtrack, with its Parisian street music, sirens, explosions and humorous mutterings, reinforces the theme fantastically well. This release sets a new bar in iGaming content and we anticipate a very positive response.’

Scheduled for release 28th October 2021, Return to Paris™ will join Betsoft’s constantly growing and award-winning portfolio of desktop and mobile video slots.

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Casino & Slots

FAST TRACK LAUNCHES SINGULARITY MODEL TO DELIVER 1:1 IGAMING PLAYER EXPERIENCES

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Photo by Hunter Harritt on Unsplash

Fast Track has revealed a first-of-its-kind product that enables iGaming operators to deliver 1:1 experiences to players.

The Singularity Model features an engine that observes every action the player makes in real time and uses advanced machine learning and computations to establish a comprehensive player profile. Once this is established, the Singularity model hand picks the content, times and channels that are best suited to the individual player and creates a relevant, timely engagement.

“We have been working towards delivering this solution since the early days of Fast Track. Within the iGaming industry we have spoken about creating 1:1 experiences with our players for many years but have not had access to the right tools to make it a reality. I am excited and proud that Fast Track is making 1:1 player experiences possible for the first time with the Singularity Model,” commented Simon Lidzén, CEO and Co-founder of Fast Track.

Operators are given full control of the data, decision-making framework and tech stack and can customise every aspect according to their unique needs. According to the company, this technology marks the beginning of the next generation of player engagement within the industry, fundamentally changing the way operators interact with players.

To further support 1:1 experiences, Fast Track is also rolling out a completely new data analytics platform: Fast Track Data Studio. Sitting on top of Fast Track’s real-time data feed, the Data Studio will allow users to carry out complex queries in lightning-fast time, assisting users to make more informed decisions about their business with easily digestible and customisable dashboards.

Fast Track’s partners will also have access to the Singularity Project, a comprehensive intelligence hub managed by a dedicated data science team. The team will be publishing the results of relevant experiments and sharing insights that can be used with the Singularity Model.

 

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SCIENTIFIC GAMES TO SELL LOTTERY BUSINESS IN $6.05 BILLION DEAL

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Image credit: Scientific Games

Scientific Games has announced the sale of its lottery business to Brookfield Business Partners in a deal worth up to US$6.05 billion. 

Under the agreement, Brookfield Business Partners will pay $5.85 billion in cash, and a further performance-based earn-out of up to $225M. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, subject to applicable regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Scientific Games Lottery currently has long-term partnerships with around 130 government and non-government run lotteries in more than 50 countries. The business provides turn-key solutions covering the entire lottery ecosystem, including instant and terminal-generated games, sports betting, lottery systems and retail technology, and the iLottery market. The company says it powers around 60% of all instant product retail sales globally. 

Regarding the news, Barry Cottle, President and CEO of Scientific Games, said: “This transaction is transformative in accelerating the delivery of our stated strategy to optimize our portfolio, aggressively de-lever our balance sheet and position us to invest in future growth. We conducted a thorough review of paths to divest the Lottery business and we are confident that this transaction maximizes value and certainty while minimizing complexity and execution risk, and positions both Scientific Games and SG Lottery for continued success along their unique growth trajectories.

“The significant near-term proceeds from this transaction as well as our previously announced sale of Sports Betting will transform our balance sheet and provide the financial flexibility to invest organically and inorganically to accelerate our strategies. This marks a major milestone and puts us on a clear path to achieve our vision to become the leading cross-platform global game company and unlock our full value for shareholders.”

David Nowak, Managing Partner, Brookfield Business Partners, added: “The Scientific Games Lottery team has built a leading business, which has innovated its industry, at the convergence of games, technology and services, across retail and digital channels for its global customers. With our capabilities and global reach, we look forward to supporting management in the continued growth of the business.”

Just last month, Endeavor Group Holdings, the NYSE-listed global sports and entertainment company, agreed to acquire content, platform, and service provider OpenBet from Scientific Games Corporation for US$1.2 billion.

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