The pubs and clubs across the United Kingdom are not just places where people can gather to drink and talk and wolf down fish and chips. They also offer a spot to place a few wagers on the fruit machines. In American casinos, they’re known as slot machines. The reference to fruit comes from the early days of the contraption, when gambling was considered a vice, punishable by law.
To get around the legal thickets, manufacturers designed the games of chance to pay out in fruit-flavored hard candies. The players could then turn the candies in at the bar in exchange for the real prize – drinks, cigars, entrees or whatever else the owner of the establishment wanted to offer. This is why so many slot machines, to this day, pay out when the machine lands on cherries, oranges, watermelons and so on.
Some people love playing the fruit machines but do not particularly enjoy going to the pub. They may be wishing to avoid having to pay pub prices for food and beverages, or they may be a bit reclusive, or they may find a certain amount of stigma attached to the act of gambling. In the age of the Internet, they can now play in the comfort and serenity of their own homes by downloading fruit machines online.
The makers of the machines were sure not to miss out on this niche. They are happy to use modems and broadband to reach into the pocketbooks of players who are willing to place a wager in hopes of hitting the jackpot. Promoters of the online fruit machines tout them as having better payouts than the machines at the pubs and clubs. Only the players themselves can say for sure.
