A slit or narrow opening, especially one for receiving something, as a coin or a letter. Also: 1. a position, appointment, or job; 2. a piece of metal in a slot car. (From the American Heritage(r) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition).
A slot is a small opening in a computer into which you can insert a printed circuit board. It is not to be confused with bays, sites within the computer into which disk drives are installed.
In modern slot machines, microprocessors control the spinning reels and determine each spin’s outcome. Because of this, the probability that a specific symbol will appear is different for each individual reel. For example, a 15 coin payout may seem low on one machine, while it will appear more frequently on another. This allows manufacturers to offer different bonus modes and keep players entertained.
Casinos aren’t in business to lose money, so they make their slots as fun and attractive as possible to entice you to play. This often means creating unique bonus games such as the mystery chase through the Crime Zone in NetEnt’s Cash Noire or the outer-space cluster payoffs that replace paylines in ReelPlay’s Cosmic Convoy.
In addition, many casinos have begun to use provably fair algorithms with their online slots. These algorithms are mathematically verified and can be accessed by any player. This eliminates the need for a casino to keep a secret algorithm and makes the game fair for everyone.