Rented, not sold, for a portion of gaming revenueįew Liberty Bell slot machines currently exist.Many of Charles Fey’s innovations are still common in modern slot machines, including: Instead, he rented them for a 50% commission of their revenues.įey’s San Francisco workshop is a California Historical Landmark. For example, he didn’t sell his slot machines.

It was based on five-card poker, as it had five reels.įey is generally considered to be the “Father of Slots,” due to his invention and popularizing the game. Before Charles Fey’s 1887 invention in San Francisco, there were gambling machines – but they didn’t have slots for coins.ĭespite prior technologies, Fey’s coin-operated machine was the first actual “slot machine.” Given the loss of historical records, it’s worth mentioning that the Sittman and Pitt Company of Brooklyn, New York, was developing a coin-operated slot machine around the same time. It was wildly popular and a massive success. The highest jackpot, fifty cents or ten nickels, occurred when all three reels showed a golden Liberty Bell. It even had the first slot machine payout table. This slot machine simulated the card game of poker, having three spinning reels, each with five symbols: diamonds, hearts, horseshoes, spades, and an image of the Liberty Bell. Given a natural disaster, there is some debate about this exact date. The Liberty Bell, arguably the first slot machine for gambling with automatic payouts, was invented in 1887 by Bavarian-born Charles Fey in San Francisco, California. Get Your FREE Guide Revealing… Keep Reading … or Listen Instead!įind my podcast wherever you listen to audio! Charles Fey, the “Father of Slot Machines”

Let’s highlight developments in these entertainment devices having slots for accepting coins as a sequence of historical events to provide insights into the next technological advancements from slot machines.

When did slot machines stop using coins