Nothing beats the thrill of the slot. Believe it or not, slot machines have been entertaining gamblers for over a century now – but how did they come about?

It all began in the late 19th century, with Charles Fey’s iconic Liberty Bell. It may not have looked like the online slots we play on our smartphones there days, but the Liberty Bell introduced gamblers to the idea of spinning reels in the hopes of landing cash payouts. It weighed over 100 pounds and operated with just 3 mechanical reels featuring diamond, spade, heart, horseshoe and bell symbols. The Liberty Bell proved hugely popular in the saloons of San Francisco (Fey’s hometown), so much so that copycat machines like the Operator Bell soon started appearing across the USA.

New slot machines continued to appear as technology advanced. The 1960s saw the rise of electromechanical slot machines like the Money Honey. In the 1970s, we were treated to video slot machines like Fortune Coin. But the greatest moment in the history of the slot machine came in the 1990s, when the first online slots were developed.