Daily Archives: September 20, 2019

Whilst slot machine gambling has only really been a thing for the last century or so, the amount of gamblers who love spinning the reels of their favourite slots these days is second to none. In fact, the slots industry is by far the biggest offshoot of the overall gambling market in the 21st century, and it is funny to think that without a particularly savvy Californian engineer called Charles D. Fey they may not have ever been invented.

He made some crucial alterations to the rudimentary slot machines that were dotted around California in the 19th century, ending up with the Liberty Bell slot, the first of its kind. The main thing that Mr Fey succeeded in changing was the prize mechanism, with prize money actually coming out of the slot machine itself, instead of having to be collected at the bar. This also resulted in the formation of low and high value slot symbols, read on to find out about low value slot symbols from Rainbow Riches Megaways. 

A brief history of slot symbols in general 

Back in the day before Charles D. Fey had created the Liberty Bell machine slot machines didn’t really have high or low value symbols in the same way as we do now. This is mainly down to the fact that there was only a few different icons on the reels back in the 1800s, and so any winning combination tended to have roughly the same value. 

Of course, this all changed when Charles D. Fey first created the Liberty Bell machine, a slot that had a tiered system of symbols for the first time. The Liberty Bell icons that it derived its name from were the high paying icons, whereas a selection of poker inspired symbols were the low paying symbols. 

The first low value symbols 

So, as we mentioned, the first clear low value symbols continued in the poker style icon tradition that was a defining characteristic of the primordial slot machines from back in the day. As the slot machine industry slowly started to grow the low value symbols tended to stick by the same formula, with the poker style icons continuing to be used heavily well into the 20th century. 

In fact, slot symbols in general didn’t really change much throughout the 20th century, mainly because they still had to be painted on to a set of reels by hand, and there was therefore little scope for what developers could do. This all changed in the 1980s with the arrival of video slots, however the low paying icons still centred on playing card symbols. 

Typical attributes of low value slot symbols 

What do low value slot symbols tend to look like these days? Well, one of the main hallmarks of these icons is that they tend to be designed round playing card symbols. Most developers will try and give their own spin on these, with the playing card symbols usually being intertwined with the slot theme in some way, however this isn’t always the case.

There is a hell of a lot that goes on behind the scenes at the world’s largest casinos, and a huge part of that ends up being the various facets of their security operation. In fact, apart from airports and banks, casinos probably have the most extensive and complex security systems in the world. And when you consider the amount of money held in these places there should really be no surprise. 

It wasn’t always like this, however. In fact, during the early days of modern commercial casino gambling in the mid 20th century places like Las Vegas were constantly plagued by casino cheats, and they therefore had to make sure that their casinos were as secure and difficult to cheat on as possible. Over the years these security systems have utilized new technology to make them more and more advanced, and nowadays you would do well to do any kind of cheating in a casino. Read on for an insight into casino security like what Star Slots has. 

24/7 all encompassing surveillance 

One of the main characteristics of modern casino security is an incredibly tense focus on 24/7 surveillance that reaches pretty much all parts of a casino establishment. In fact, casinos are amongst the most heavily watched places on earth, with only airports really have more cameras inside. Casinos do genuinely need this level of surveillance too; otherwise it would be far too easy for people to cheat inside of them. 

But here’s the thing: casino surveillance isn’t something that the average gambler would probably notice during their stay in Las Vegas, because it is all hidden away perfectly. The extent of surveillance is bonkers though, you should see the size of some casino’s surveillance control rooms! It all results in the fact that casinos could easily track a guest’s movements throughout a weeklong stay. 

Strict and hawkeyed pit bosses 

Another essential part of casino security is having a strict and experienced pit boss, as these will be the first line of defence against casino cheats and also gamblers looking to indulge in things like blackjack card counting. Pit bosses generally stand at a high vantage point above the pit in question, and they will be constantly on the lookout for people to eject from the casino.

The muscle 

What is the use of a top quality security system if you do not have the muscle to back it up? This is why most huge casinos will have a remarkably well trained security team, and it is very important that this team also has the muscle required to deal with any problems. 

This is why most casinos will be eager to have at least a few muscular members of security, because not only do they help out with genuine problems when needed, they also provide a warning to gamblers as they walk in. 

Heat mapping 

Modern technology is constantly utilized in casino security, for instance many of them have utilized heat mapping in order to stop gamblers loitering around slot machines.