Video Poker History

Video poker hasn’t been around forever, but it is known as one of the oldest forms of gambling. The history of video poker goes back further than many people believe. The machines served to usher in a new age of gambling, where casinos could make money without having to employ hundreds of staff to run each of their games. Though many changes have been made over the course of time to both tweak and improve video poker machines, the basic premise remains the same.

 

It’s man against machine and people play against the odds each time out. Though casinos might be where they live today, the earliest video poker machines weren’t found there. In fact, they were actually found in bars and other hangouts, where bar owners would pay out winning customers with drinks and other items. Specifically, some people link the first video poker machine to Brooklyn, New York, where a company known as Sittman and Pitt is credited with its invention. Today’s video poker machines run with computer, but the early models simply used drums to recycle a deck of cards that typically held 50 cards.

 

It was much easier to put together early machines to hold this amount. Video poker machines began to improve dramatically when they solicited the help of the father of the early slot machine. That man, Charles Fey, was world renowned for knowing how to put together the most effective slot machines in the world, so he put his hand to improving video poker in the late 1800s. Fey’s contribution certainly couldn’t be counted as a small one, because it set the stage for video poker as we know it today. What he did was create a way for video poker machines to make direct payouts to winning players.

 

This was important at the time because it made the video poker machine much more attractive to players and further took away any work that owners of the machines might have otherwise had to take on. Fey is also credited with another huge contribution to the history and development of the modern video poker machine. Before he came along, players only had to win based upon their original deal and a secondary deal. In 1901, Fey added what is known as the “hold” option on these games. This helped the player, made the game more fun, and also brought it closer to being a part of the main stream gambling world. With this in mind, one might be able to say that Charles Fey is truly the inventor of the 5-draw machine, which is now the most popular video poker machine found in any casino. The addition of the “hold” feature turned the game from one of pure luck to one of skill and strategy.

 

All of a sudden, players had a choice to make, which added a lot to the game. Given that decision, players felt much more in control of the game. The first showing of what we now know as electronic video poker came about in 1970. A company known as Dale Electronics gets the credit for that invention, although some minor improvements and adjustments have been made to the machines since that time. The Dale machine was the first one to make a splash in Las Vegas, and is now a prominent part of casino decor