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The Rise of the Video Slot Machines (1 of 2)

Some of the hottest land-based slot titles around today are video slot machines. These devices are usually a paean to the most advanced and up-to-date casino technology around, and seldom fail to delight players. One of the newest and coolest gambling trends came about in the mid 1990s, when casino execs began brainstorming new ways to update that perennial favorite, the slot machine. Slots can account for seventy percent of a casino’s income, and the competition to lure in the most players has always been fierce in this segment of the gambling industry. Video slots offered a reprieve from the tedium of watching three or five wheels turn ‘round and ‘round until you either won or lost all your money.

The first-ever video slot machine in America was “Reel ‘Em In,” the title created by WMS gaming. This innovative slot game revolutionized the foundations of slot machine play, by allowing gamers to bet multiple coins per pay line. This title was also the first slot game to feature a LCD screen below the reels. The bonuses and second screen games that were added to the screen turned these slot machines into a device more like a video game, and thus made this ubiquitous type of gambling much more attractive to the younger set. Nor were these new slots the passive entertainment of yore. Slot players suddenly had a bit more to entertain them than just the spinning reels and pushing a button. Top-notch graphics and exciting music were now part of the slot experience.

Continue to part 2 here.

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