Slot gaming takes many different forms all across the world – even the name itself isn’t consistent. Although casinos in Australia and Britain are increasingly online, it’s still important to look at their brick-and-mortar culture, as it has an interesting history and will not go away anytime soon.
Australia’s Pokie culture
Australia is the world’s pokie capital. Despite Australians representing only 0.33% the global population, Australians account for around 20% of all slot machines around the world. Pokies first come to Australia during the 1880s. This was because American sailors introduced some rudimentary poker-style machines during shore leave. Pokies remained in their mechanical form for many decades until more recently, where they’ve become electronic.
Online casinos in Australia are certainly massive, no doubt, but pokie culture still feels more analogue. While some countries restrict slots to just casinos, Australia has them in everywhere from pubs to hotels. The most defining thing about pokies culture is how ubiquitous they are, and how they have been the device to normalise gambling. It was in the 1980s since further deregulation gave them another boost, and now the best online casinos in Australia are also trying to take some of this market share.
Japan’s Pachinko
Japan is an interesting paradox when it comes to slot gaming. The country, like many others, has had stringent anti-gambling laws. Yetl, Pachinko, which is a a hybrid game combining elements of pinball and slots, thrives all around the country.
It goes back to 1920s, when they were fully mechanical and inspired by American pinball machines (“korinto-gashi”). Pachinko quickly changed after World War II into mostly electric powered devices, making them noisier with bright lights and sound effects, which only adds to the excitement.
Pachinko parlors ultimately exist in a legal grey area. They award players tokens instead of direct cash payouts. These are then exchanged for money at nearby establishments, which are separate from the parlors themselves, making it legal on a very thin “technicality”.
The workaround means that they’re flourishing, legally, with over 10,000 parlors. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry in Japan, yet it’s not ubiquitous like it is in Australia and the UK – they’re refined to parlors, meaning the culture is around going to the parlor itself, rather than randomly having a flutter when passing a machine in public. Though, Japan’s cultural influence is strong, and we have seen these adaptations with online casinos.
UK’s slot tradition
The UK’s approach to slots is very different to Japans pachinko machine, but the culture is still also different to Australia – not least because they’re called “fruities”. Fruit machines went hand-in-hand with pub culture during the mid-20th century. They were mechanical devices with fruit symbols like cherries and lemons. Over time, they’ve become electronic, but still try to retain a mechanical feel a lot of the time.
But strangely, fruit machines in the UK are not so much about gambling as they are in Australian pokies or Japanese pachinko. Instead, it’s seen as casual entertainment, where the more serious gamblers would be in the bookmakers. They’re more of a symbol of social interaction, though you will occasionally see one in a launderette or similar.
For Brits, slots culture took a slight dip due to pub culture taking a dip – they’re highly intertwined. For Australia and Japan, their use of slots appears to be unmoveable unless something happened with regulation.
