The BAR symbol commonly found in slot machines today evolved from the early 19th century logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Co., whose fruit-flavored chewing gum was dispensed when the player won. The flavors were those pictured on the reels.
1911 At midnight on June 19, a ban on slot machines took effect in Sacramento, California. The new law made it a misdemeanor to have the devices in one’s possession or on one’s property. The machines were collected from cigar stands and saloons and removed in wagons to be sent to a locale where they…
Today In the U.S. we call them slot machines and one-armed bandits, but in Australia, they’re pokies and in the United Kingdom, fruit machines. Other names? Photo from freeimages.com: by Tijmen van Dobbenburgh
1825-1958 The hottest game in the Old West between 1825 and 1915, faro is pretty much extinct in the United States today. If you’ve never heard of it — and you aren’t alone there — it’s a fast-action, one-deck card game in which innumerable players compete against a bank rather than one another. (Learn the…
1947 To keep players gambling at their clubs, Las Vegas, Nevada casinos boosted incentives with offerings such as double odds on craps, bingo prizes of $1,000 ($10,900 today), extra slot machine jackpots and brand new Cadillacs.
1950s The manufacture of slot machines, roulette wheels and other gambling equipment was big business in the United States until the mid-20th century when new federal legislation curbed it. In 1950, the Kefauver Committee, officially the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, began delving into the underworld’s involvement with gambling. The…
1942 The Las Vegas, Nevada Board of Commissioners ordered all commercial slot machine owners to drop off to the local police station a master key for each of their devices to: • Ensure the devices were operated honestly • Determine the revenue they created However, when merchants, tavern owners and gambling club operators protested vehemently, the…
1961 A Southern Nevada business offered to teach individuals, for a flat fee of $3,000 ($24,000 today), various ways to successfully cheat slot machines. Photo from freeimages.com
1913-1929 With various state bans on gambling and, later, a nationwide prohibition against liquor, many Americans, particularly wealthy Southern Californians, traveled to casinos in Mexican border cities to play and imbibe. “The great hegira* is in, and already these towns are filled to the limit with throngs of the thirsty, willing to pay big sums for…
1967 Nevada legislators proposed a bill that would disallow any future installation of slot machines in grocery and drug stores. It died, though, in the Senate Taxation Committee.