A slit or hole for receiving something, as a coin or letter. Also: a place, time, or position, especially one assigned or ordained by someone else, as in I slotted that appointment for 4 o’clock. Also: a job, berth, or other assignment, as in She slotted him into the position of manager.
The term slots, first used in the 1860s for automated vending devices, soon came to refer almost exclusively to gambling machines. In the United States, the first machines were set up as sideshow attractions in saloons, where patrons placed coins into slot holes for a chance to win merchandise such as drinks and cigars. By the 1920s such devices had become so popular that forces of morality, public opinion, and the law began to restrict their operation, limiting them to certain establishments and requiring them to pay off winning customers in cash or in barroom trade checks (specially minted metal tokens).
A slot machine is a gambling machine that uses a random number generator to determine the results of each spin. Traditionally, these machines have three to five spinning reels and a lever that initiates play. Modern slot machines have removed the mechanical operations and instead use electronic microprocessors to generate random sequences of numbers. While they still look like traditional slots, the newer games are much more complex and can offer a wide variety of themes, audio, video, and other features to attract players. Many casinos offer a large selection of slot games, but they are not available everywhere. Some Native American casinos, for example, don’t allow regular slots and instead offer “class II” machines based on bingo or the lottery.