Woah, Really? 10 Fun Facts about Slots You Didn’t Know
Sometimes you believe you know a thing or two about a topic, only to be swept off your feet when you discover an unexpected side. If you think you know slot games, think again. We’re revealing 10 fun facts about slot machines that’ll make you feel like you’re meeting online slots for the very first time. You already know that SlotsLV online slots are the most riveting to play, but did you know that…
Ah-ha. Not so fast. You’ll have to read on to find out. We’ll see you at the other end after you’ve learned a few fun facts about your favorite game.
1. The biggest slot win ever is $39.7 million.
It was a regular day in 2003 when an unassuming software engineer, who opted to remain anonymous, took the Megabucks slot for a spin in a Las Vegas casino. Our jackpot hero, perhaps on vacation from his home city of Los Angeles, had $100 to spare as a bet. Little did he know that this hundred dollars would lead to the biggest jackpot win of all time: $39.7 million. It’s still the record to this day.
2. Japan has more slots than the USA.
When you ponder a slot-playing vacation, your mind would naturally fix on Las Vegas. But there are plenty of gambling cities other than Vegas, and some of their locations might surprise you.
Believe it or not, Japan has more slot machines than the US. It’s one of those little-known slot machine facts that doesn’t seem real, yet it’s true. The US has less than one million slot machines in total. Japan has somewhere around 4.2 million . That’s more than the population of Los Angeles. When you crunch the numbers, there’s one slot machine for every 350 people in the US and one for every 27 in Japan.
3. Slots are called pokies in Australia.
![With an orange-yellow background, there’s a cute koala flipping a gold coin with gold bling around its neck, next to an Australian flag.](https://www.slotslvcasino.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/3_SLOTS-ARE-CALLED-POKIES-IN-AUSTRALIA_2-1024x576.jpg)
Fun facts about slot machines aren’t just about dizzying numbers, they’re about quirky names, too. Did you know that in Australia, slots aren’t “slots” at all? They’re called “pokies”. Australians have a knack for slapping playful nicknames on just about everything, and the term “pokie” springs from the “pok” part of “poker machines”, which is the old-school name for slots. As with many cultural phenomena, the name just stuck.
4. The first slot machines spit out gum.
Imagine you’re playing a slot machine in the year 1909 and the cherries align on the one-armed bandit. You hold your breath in anticipation as the machine gears clank and churn, and then out pops a cascade of… gum? Well, if you were a slot player in the early 20th century, that’s what you would get.
Slot manufacturers had to think outside the slots box back in the early days to skirt around legal bans on slot gaming, which is why the slots from Industry Novelty Company replaced cash wins with gum.
5. The Money Honey could pay up to 200x your bet.
When you think of old-school slot machines, you don’t typically imagine the grand jackpots of modern times. While that’s true to some extent, the Money Honey slot machine from 1964 was quite the cash cow in its day. It cost a humble nickel to play, and you could land the “Honey Honey Honey” combination, scooping up 200 coins. That’s the equivalent of $10, aka 200x your bet. Not bad for an old-timer.
And here’s a fun little tidbit about slots today. Did you know that if you refer a friend to SlotsLV Casino, you get a cash referral bonus deposited directly into your account? That’s the coolest fact yet.
6. You can play slots without cash or a debit card.
![There’s a gold Bitcoin in the middle surrounded by floating slot symbols and it’s all on top of a yellow-orange background.](https://www.slotslvcasino.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/6_YOU-CAN-PLAY-SLOTS-WITHOUT-CASH-OR-A-DEBIT-CARD.-_3-1024x576.jpg)
When you deposit for slots online and automatically reach for your bank card – hang on for just a sec, because times have changed. Today, you can play slots online through Bitcoin gambling.
It’s a privilege of the 21st century that you no longer have to wait around for your bank’s approval or fork over their exorbitant fees. Most players nowadays deposit and withdraw using crypto. When you do it at SlotsLV, you get higher bonuses and mega-short 15-minute payday waits after your request is approved.
7. Bonus rounds emerged in the ‘90s.
It’s difficult to imagine a time when bonus rounds in slots weren’t a thing. They’re the core of every game. But it wasn’t until 1996 when WMS Industries Inc. debuted the first bonus round in a slot machine.
The bonus round was in the game “Reel ‘Em In ”. When players triggered it, they were whisked away to a second screen where they had a chance to win bonus prizes, setting the prosperous precedent for years to come.
8. There are slot machines based on your favorite TV shows.
Slot machine themes have blossomed over the years from simple fruits and numbers to full-blown adventures in fantastical worlds. Some games draw their inspiration from blockbuster TV shows and movies, complete with beloved characters and gripping plots.
Take Fast & Sexy, for example. Does the theme of hyper-fast sports cars and flirty women in scandalous clothing ring a bell? It’s a nod to the Fast & The Furious franchise, where you’re behind the driver’s wheel of a high-spin adventure.
9. The first-ever slot wasn’t in a casino.
![A car mechanic is standing next to an old-school slot machine and they’re both on top of an orange background with yellow hues.](https://www.slotslvcasino.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/9_THE-FIRST-EVER-SLOT-WASNT-IN-A-CASINO_4-1024x576.jpg)
When Charles Fey built the Liberty Bell in 1895, he wasn’t envisioning mammoth, opulent casinos housing cutting-edge versions of his invention decades down the line. Instead, the first-ever slot machine, deemed the Liberty Bell, was much more quaint. It was tucked away in Fey’s automobile shop in San Francisco to entertain customers while their tires were getting rotated.
10. Some slots have jackpots that are required to drop.
What if you knew for sure a jackpot would trigger by a certain time? Sounds like a dream, right? Welcome to the wondrous world of Hot Drop Jackpots.
Hot Drop Jackpots are among the greatest online slot innovations of our time. A jackpot must drop once per hour and once per day. Then there’s the Epic jackpot, a behemoth that grows toward a staggering sum, configured to make someone’s eyes pop when it triggers just in time.
No matter how many spins you’ve taken with online slots, the surprises never stop coming. Now that you’re armed with a host of newly uncovered secrets about your favorite game, charge forward with that knowledge and learn a thing or two about winning.