Interesting Facts

When Charles Fey created the first slot machine in 1895 and named it the Liberty Bell, he probably had no idea of what he had just started. In 120 years, we have witnessed the rise of the casino industry as global gambling hotspots like Las Vegas or Macao have literally risen out of dust and flourished.

The Liberty Bell slot machine usually paid out in cigarettes, candy or lemonade from the store or barbershop it was installed in, but modern online slot machines like to spew out cold, hard cash.

Thanks to the progressive jackpot systems, the wins have grown substantially, and in January 2013 a Finnish player set a new world record when he won €17,860,868 on the Mega Fortune progressive slot.

All this money naturally attracts all kinds of cheats and con artists, both in real life and in the realms of cyberspace. Cheats use radioactive dice, marked cards, radio-controlled roulette balls, or indeed literally any other crazy hack or invention they can come up with and that might work.

Casinos on the other hand respond with technology that wouldn’t be inappropriate for NSA or CSI agents,as well as teams of cyber security experts, all of whom work to try and keep all the money that the players have deposited exactly where it is.

You will probably also be surprised by the number of famous Hollywood actors and business moguls who are on the black lists of Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos for counting cards or not being able to take care of their gambling debts in a timely manner.

This fascinating world, full of mental and financial tension, has given birth to an array of legends who remain unknown to outsiders. Have you ever heard of Archie Karas for example? Probably not, but he was a guy who became famous for having the longest winning streak in history when he turned 50 dollars into 40 million in just 3 years at the beginning of the nineties. Quite an achievement no doubt, but the fact he lost it all playing poker in just 1 year makes it even more memorable.

This category of articles is home to the most extraordinary stories involving casinos, specific games and colourful gamblers. When there are no fresh stories to offer, we dig deep into history and uncover interesting oddities, cool facts, and mindboggling numbers from the past.

Our team of gambling experts will bring you in-depth analysis as well as our own quirky views on some of these stories that seem just too funny or unbelievable to be true.