Gambling has very ancient origins. It is even presumed that the first forms of a rudimentary casino were introduced in Mesopotamia. Europe, also thanks to the discoveries made during the travels of explorers such as Marco Polo, was able to import oriental forms of play and readjust them to its own audience.
Certainly very popular, among the nobility, were card games and slowly, also thanks to events such as the Carnival of Venice or Viareggio, it was possible to create a gaming environment similar to modern casinos. To see a first example of a slot machine, however, you have to go overseas, that is, peek into the United States of America.
In the early 1900’s it was in the States that the first slot machines were invented, very different in appearance and functionality from those found today, although there was certainly no shortage of players and interested parties.
Prohibitionism, which has made the fortune of many clandestine gambling houses, has caused the new invention of the slot to land in the old continent. Since the last century, innovations and regularizations around this new game have continued to make strides forward.
When the first slot machines appeared in Italy
It is not easy to establish the exact year in which the first slot machines appeared in Italy, but we are sure of one thing: they were received with great enthusiasm.
The very first “money-eating machines” had much more mechanical than digital characteristics and the rollers were physical and rotated with a system patented only in 1984 by Inge Telnaes.
In principle, the actual presence of slot machines similar to those that can be played today on legal online slot sites took place in the early 1980s.
Who are the hardest players
If we were to do a careful market analysis and understand which interest group to sell the “product” slot machine to, we could safely say that men are the ones who prefer physical slot machines, while women, perhaps for greater discretion. , use online slots.
Advertisements once sought to introduce female figures of some prestige (and some beauty) into casino gambling halls. Those who attended them can certainly say that the percentage of men present was much higher than the female counterpart.
However, the presence of a female audience in online gaming is felt and the game of slots seems to be along with bingo one of the favorite activities of women.
As for the age group, if men are concentrated between the ages of 30 and 50, the bar for women rises by at least a decade. Most gamblers are single, although they do not rule out whole families who decide to invest part of their salary in gambling.
Remember, however, that it is strictly forbidden for minors to play slots.
How much you spend the year in the slot machine game
Going to read the national data on gambling, it turns out that in 2020 as much as 88.38 billion euros were spent and it is still a downward trend, compared to other more fortunate years for the market.
Let’s see some data about the spending of Italians in terms of gambling and in particular who spends more on the game of slot machines.
Northern Italy
Maybe you’ve never heard of it and you’ve probably never been there, but the town of Caresanablot, in the province of Vercelli, Piedmont is the town that has recorded the Italian record of plays per capita.
We are talking about a municipality with just over a thousand inhabitants, in which, according to the interviewees, practically everyone plays.
As for the region that has spent the most, both in the north and throughout the nation, is Lombardy. Of course, the number of inhabitants greatly influences this statistic.
Central Italy
Among the provinces of central Italy, on the other hand, Prato stands out in a particular way. In recent years, there has been a per capita expenditure of as much as 3,000 euros a year, especially in slot machines.
Southern Italy
Abruzzo is the region that in the south of Italy has a higher per capita expenditure on slot machines. A region that doesn’t talk much about itself, but that obviously has very specific interests when it comes to gambling.
Will digital slots completely replace physical slots?
According to fairly recent statistics, a slot machine is estimated for every 143 inhabitants, as far as our country is concerned. The proportions are different in the rest of Europe.
Of course, with the spread of smartphones, tablets and Internet connections much more stable than in the past, digital slots have conquered a good slice of the market.
It is difficult to say whether they will be able to completely replace the physical ones for several reasons:
· The player suspects that the software is being manipulated
· The lack of real interaction with other people in the room
· The physical presence of keys and levers that maintains a certain charm
· The opportunity to see and touch with your hand the eventual win
As far as digital innovations are concerned, the Italian public will always maintain a certain passion for physical slots.
