Four Funny & Wild Things You Hear People Say When Playing Slots

The language of gambling is amazing. The lingo, slang and some of the wild stuff that is said on the casino floor is remarkable.

A Classic - The Big Bertha

Out of one of the finest straight out of New York City. The Big Bertha is a Big Slot Machine.

In many Las Vegas casinos, the very first thing to greet guests as they walk through the main doorway is a gigantic novelty size slot machine. These bad boys can clock in at over 10 feet wide while towering all but the tallest players. Meanwhile, while there are specifically branded “Big Bertha” machines in casinos like Bally’s on the Strip, the term has come to encompass any of the town’s massive slot games.

Big Bertha slots tend to be old-school, displaying a physical reel layout rather than the video slots that have come to dominate the industry. You’ll be spinning symbols like the cherry, 7-7-7, and BAR while trying to line them up along a single payline.

Slots & The Vulture

The ‘vulture’ stands around, watching, commenting, and offering his/her premier advice but never commits some money to the slots themselves.

Essentially, a slot machine vulture is a player who believes in the aforementioned hammering strategy, but one who likes to let other players put in the work for them. Vultures will watch unsuspecting players pump a machine full with hundreds of bets, only to walk away after a fruitless session.

Under the impression that this particular machine has now been “primed” to pay out imminently, the vulture swoops in like its avian namesake to steal the kill for themselves.

One From Down Under - Pokies

Europeans call it the ‘fruit machines’, Americans classically call is ‘slots’ and Australians take the cake for the best with, ‘pokies’.

Short for “poker machine,” the term pokies is affectionately used by Aussie slot fans the world over. And because so many Australian gamblers love to make their way to Las Vegas each and every year, chances are good you’ll hear an offhand reference to “playing the pokies” during your next trip.

Listen out for the loud, degenerate gambler in flip flops yelling pokies around the floor.

Ding Ding Ding - Jackpot & It’s Raining

There was a time when coins would flow out of the machine.

Whenever a big payout would arrive, players would celebrate the sound of “raining” as a flood of new coins fell down into the payout tray. Modern machines use paper betting vouchers, of course, but the popularity of that signature raining sound remains strong.

So much so that slot designers have even equipped new machines to play a special “coin raining” soundtrack to mark their major payouts.

Conclusion

Slots machines are controversial in the gambling world. They are not gamable and you know sitting down at the machine the odds are against you. Sure, you can’t control the outcome after letting the wheels fly, but the same can be said for the wheel in roulette or the dice in craps.

If you want to fit in for the future around the lots machines - try playing online slots and get this language adopted into your brain.