Inter Casino
By
Randy Ray
“Deposit, click, pull, spin, bells,
lights, wait, patience, one, two, three…repeat… again…”
The humming song of the one-arm bandit
– the slot machine. How far gambling has come (and not!) Some things
have
changed dramatically with on-line gambling and even virtual slot
machines,
now almost as comfortable, accessible and acceptable as watching
television,
flooding search engines and alive and well through pop-ups and other
electronic
marketing media – other gambling icons have stayed hauntingly the same,
or at least so it appears, including the presence of slot machines on
the
traditional gambling scene.
But are slot machines the same enablers
of the games of chance and fate as they have always been? Devices
delivering
on the need for entertainment, leisure, fun and pleasure, indulgence
and
the ever-popular promise of spending a little (or a lot) to win it BIG!
Promises of easy money. The buzz, glitter, lights, spinning,
celebratory,
cheerful sounds of the timeless slot machine. Alluring, elusive,
insistent
and … still very popular. To the point then, modern-day slot machines
are
distinctly different – most, like the Megabucks and other slot
machines,
are now networked and digital, so appearances may be “deceiving” as
complex
programming and algorithms now throws the dice of change and smiles on
lady luck so to speak in the background. The Megabucks Slot Machine as
stated is no exception here. This one-armed bandit-like showpiece is
not
just suddenly ambidextrous; it is a multitasking, multiple-games-in-one
gambling machine. The new technologies have changed the way people win
and lose on slot machines and have led to the networking that produces
huge jackpots. Technological advances are here to stay. They are part
of
the march from mechanical to electro-mechanical, then to circuit boards
and high-speed microprocessors – setting the machine up so that people
will play often enough because of frequent/regular payouts while still
making lots of money for the casinos and gaming industry!
Before the computer era, slot machines
featured spinning reels, usually three, seen through a window. A player
would insert a coin, pull the machine's handle to start the reels
spinning
and hope that when they stopped, the symbols painted on the reels would
line up in a winning combination. If they did, the player received some
or all of the coins that had been placed into the machine. The odds of
winning were determined by the number of reels in the machine and the
number
of symbols on each reel. This is now al done by computer chip and
regulated
and regularly inspected for programming irregularities and/or
tampering.
The Megabucks slot machines, for example, are wired on closed networks
like private Internets (riverboat-based versions of the game can use
wireless
network connections) so they can communicate with other slot machines
offering
the same game. In Nevada, for instance, Megabucks is played statewide
on
a network of about 700 linked slot machines in 133 locations. Every
time
a player in Nevada drops a dollar into a Megabucks slot machine, about
six cents of that dollar is added to a special running jackpot figure
posted
simultaneously at the casinos where slot machine players can see it. In
effect making MEGA-WINNINGS come to life.
IGT has clearly sought to up the
ante by launching several versions of the Wheel of Fortune one-armed
bandits.
The new video slot featuring actual clips of TV show hosts Pat Sajak
and
Vanna White guide players through the action of the game promise hours
of fun for the adventurous and/or die-hard fan.
Find out more about slot machines,
especially online progressives, at Major
Millions Jackpot Guide
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
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