前面寫過的各個篇章，大體上把美式賭場(Casinos) 中的賭台遊戲 (Table Games) 都談過了，事實上，在賭場的營運利得中，幾經變遷，原本只作為賭場中裝點氣氛的附屬產品 — 老虎機 (Slot Machines)，如今才是真正為賭場日進斗金、大賺其錢的生財器具。君不見；拉斯維加斯的各大、小賭場內，燈火輝煌的大廳中，Slot Machines 成行成列地排列成陣，由餐廳門口到賭台週邊、由便利商店到超級市場，老虎機的存在，就連車站或機場中也無所不在，說到 Slot 在拉斯維加斯這個 “賭城”的特殊景觀，不僅是氣氛而已，也是賭場老闆們闡精竭智設法掏空客人口袋的最佳利器。


     談到老虎機，先來瞭解一些它的歷史淵源


The history of slot machine :
老虎機溯源：


The spinning reel slot machine was invented over 100 years ago by August Fey, a German machinist, his invention was called the Liberty Bell, which was a three-reel device in a metal box that contained symbols such as bells, stars, and horseshoes. The top prize was paid when three bells appeared in the window, and it was popularly called a Bell machine. And in 1907, an enterprising fellow in Chicago by the name of Herbert Mills copied Fey’s mechanism and started manufacturing slot machines on a large-scale basis.
一百多年前，一位德裔美國機匠奧格斯‧費首先發明了名為 “自由鍾”的機械式三軸滾筒老虎機。分別在三個不同的圓軸形滾筒上漆有鍾形，及馬蹄形圖案，三個滾筒在轉動停止後，如果三個鍾形圖案排列成行，就中獎。到了 1907 年芝加哥商人賀勃特‧邁爾斯就依這種設計開始大量製造老虎機。


Before long, Mills’ slot machines were being distributed throughout the country and were installed mostly in saloons and pool halls. In 1912, Nevada legalized slot machines as a form of vending machine, started a period during which slot machines paid winners with chewing gum and other products. The reels carried pictures of various fruits that represented the different flavors of gum, and some of these symbols remain in use today, by the late 1920s, slot machine manufacturing had become a big business, by the early 1930s, most slot machine installations were controlled by the mob.
很快地，邁爾斯的生產受到全美各地的酒吧和撞球店等地方採用，成為營業機器，到了 1912 年，內華達州立法允許老虎機營業，機上的滾筒圖案也日新月異，1920 到 1930 年，發展迅速，由於它利潤大，逐漸成為黑手黨不法幫派掌控的大生意。


After Nevada legalized gambling in 1931, the first legal casinos installed slot machines for the purpose of distraction and entertaining, all the early slot machines were purely mechanical devices, further improvements were minimal until the 1960s.
1931 年，內州立法允許開設賭場，老虎機在賭場中成為主要的裝飾點綴器材，營造出一種特殊的熱鬧氣氛。


When Bally Manufacturing Company (now named Bally Gaming Systems), with newly-designed electromechanical slots. Bally was introducing machines with multiple coin acceptors and motor-driven coin hoppers that were capable of making much larger and faster payouts.
至1960 年代，老虎機的製造業由 “百利氏”機械公司改進和製造出電動式的 “單臂強盜”老虎機，其營運方式更為快速，而獎金金額和下注數額也日益增大幅度。