Gambling in the UK has very deep roots. Dating back to 1539, the early form of gambling was betting on horse races. The oldest records showing gambling in the UK were from horse race betting in Chester. The most popular form of gambling in the UK at the current time is slots. Since their invention, slots have grown rapidly and are bigger than any other form of casino game.
In this article, we’ll look at how gambling, especially slot machines, started and how it has grown into online casinos in the UK where you can enjoy independent slots and casino games, and maybe find some of the oldest games for yourself. So without any further ado, let’s dive right into learning more about the history of gambling in the UK.
Invention of Slots
San Francisco is the birthplace of the first mechanical slot machine. Developed by Charles Fey, it was called Liberty Bell and was developed in 1894. It was also known as ‘Fruit Slot’ or ‘one-armed bandit’.
The gameplay of the first slot ‘Liberty Bell’ was simple, players had to insert a nickel in the machine and pull the lever. The slot machine had one row and had six symbols: a diamond, heart, spade, horseshoe, star and a cracked Liberty Bell. If you land three same symbols in a row then you win the game. The highest payout of the Liberty Bell was ten nickels which is fifty cents.
The first slot had one reel and only a few ways to win, and nowadays, it is not common to see slots with 40 or 100 ways to win. But this development did not happen overnight. In 1907, fruit symbols were integrated into slot machines, which were previously dominated by card symbols.
In 1920, Mills Novelty Co. introduced the ‘Skill Stop’ feature which players can use to stop the spinning wheel on their own to strike a win! In 1963, the lever mechanism of the slot machines was replaced with an electronic button. Then in 1976, the first video slot machines were invented. Now players can see the reels and the symbols on a high-definition screen. These were just perfect for integrating with brick-and-mortar casinos of that time.
The Problem With Slots
The growing popularity of slots in offline casinos was huge back then. People would stand in lines to try their luck at one of the slot machines. The casinos can only install a few of these machines as they take up space and have high maintenance costs. No matter the number of machines the casinos add to their collection, it is never enough. That is how popular slots were at that time.
There were dedicated floors in casinos for slots. To match their increasing popularity, casinos replaced traditional card game tables with slots. To solve this problem, offline casinos started opening their own websites where players could play online slots.
Online Slots
The history of online slots is quite interesting. The first online casino was made live in 1994, during the 1990s, when the internet was accessible to a broader public. With the launch of online casinos came the first online slot by Microgaming, Reel ‘Em.
With the launch of online slots, the biggest problem of not having enough slot machines for slot fans was solved. Now players can play their favourite slots anytime they want without any wait period. Casinos also do not have to buy multiple casino machines to satisfy the growing crowd. They now have to buy licences from slot developers like Microgaming to run their games on the casino website.
Fast forwarding to the current time, the slots have slowly improved and now we have slots with 3D gameplay. You can find slots for any theme you can think of. Online casinos nowadays boast about having thousands of slots to choose from. You can play a new slot at one of the UKGC licensed casinos in the UK every day and still have thousands that you haven’t tried yet!