A slit or other narrow opening, esp. one for receiving something, as a coin or a letter. Also: a place or position, as in a career or a game. Synonyms: channel, hole, niche, trough.
In the casino, a slot is a machine that pays out winning combinations according to its programmed odds. While many slot machines have different rules, most are designed to achieve a target payback percentage for the casino. Some websites that review new slot games list the designers’ targets, though these results may not reflect what players actually experience in live casinos.
While old mechanical slots used a series of gears to rotate a set of reels, most modern slot machines use a computer chip and virtual reel to determine whether or not a player has won. These virtual reels have all the same blank and symbol positions as the physical ones, but they are spread out across a much larger number of places. Whether a single reel or several, each one stops at a random spot and the outcome of the spin is determined by which symbols land in that position.
Some slots have a jackpot that pays out the highest amount when certain combinations are made. These jackpots can be displayed on a screen, or – more frequently – through an interactive series of images available by touchscreen. The jackpot amounts are often abbreviated, or sometimes even completely hidden due to space constraints, but a full list of possible wins may be accessible through a dedicated button on the machine.