The Rise of Online Pokies: How Digital Slot Machines are Changing the Landscape of Gaming

Pokies, sometimes referred to as slots depending on what region you live in, have a long history. They were first developed in the United States by a man named Charles Fey. The very first slot machine was called Liberty Bell and was immediately popular. Around the early 1900s, the first pokie game appears in Australia, despite the fact gambling was actually illegal there at the time, folks flocked to play the game.

Early Beginnings

Finally, in 1953 an Australian company named Aristrocraft developed their first game, and finally the gambling machines were legalized. Australia was never the same after this, and pokies remain popular to this day. While the earliest incarnations of pokies seem pretty basic compared to the machines we play today, they were absolutely necessary and offered a grandiose escape from a boring day-to-day reality for both Australians and American's alike. Some years later the games become flashier through lights, and as technology increased, so did the quality of the pokie games. Classic pokies are still popular to this day, and the mechanics of such machines haven't changed that much. Most classic pokies have three spinning reels, and one, three or five pay lines at the moment. These games offered small but lucrative jackpots. In the 1980s, video slots emerged onto the scene and offered more pay lines, and more ways to win. It also included mechanics like a free spins feature and a gambling option. Everything changed in the 90s, but the mechanics of online pokies were developed years ago! In the 1990s, Australian states allows for pokie machines in pubs, and when the game was more widespread and available, they became a staple in places like Queensland, South Australia and NSW. Australia has almost as long of a history with pokies as Las Vegas does!

Internet Pokies

When the internet became accessible to the random person in the 1990s, the whole gambling industry was expected to go through a shift. You can now play pokies online, and many of the earliest online casinos that were first published in the 1990s are still in operation. it's crazy to think online casinos have been around for over 20 years now! In 2004, Australian-styled pokies were released into the online gambling market thanks to Microgaming's title Thunderstruck. Now, there are hundreds of Australian style pokies to choose from. We began on web browsers, and now a days pokies can be played from the convenience of your smartphone or iPad, allowing for instant play whenever and wherever you want.

It gets a bit confusing if you're from the west about how video slots are called pokies, there is no exact date in terms of when pokies became the standard Australian phrase for slot machines, or when pubs started to advertise their pokie machines. It co-relates to video poker machines and when these games first came to fruition down under. All games were called poker machines back then. While obviously video poker and video slot games are two vastly different things- the slang stuck!

So What Is The Future of Pokies?

Mobile gambling is the future of the industry! Smartphone technology enables us to gamble on the go, which in this fast paced world is essential. Back in the day, to access a great online casino you often had to install software onto your laptop, and I noticed this is becoming increasingly less common. Players simply don't have the time to download an entire casino when technology enables them to play their favorite pokie machines using a web browser!