What Are Online Pokies?

A widely-used term by Australians referring to gaming mechanisms, “pokies” was originally used in the ’70s in New South Wales. In this sense, they basically equate to gambling games accessed and enjoyed using the internet.
They’re gambling machines with video displays and replications of the land-based reels of physical poker devices. Most of them have five reels with bonuses and various features.
Simply put, they are the same slots, but Australians are used to calling them pokies.

What Are Pokies?

The History of Australian Pokies

In 1891, the first mechanical poker machine was created by Sittman and Pitt, making them the pioneers of the gambling machines. However, years later, a more advanced machine was invented by Charles Fey: a device with an automatic mechanism for collecting your winnings or payouts. And since then, more and more developments and improvements have been made, including fruits and logos and replacing poker cards from the machines.

And after over six decades, the very first electromechanical pokie machine was developed. Soon after, the machine improved again by removing the requirement of pulling levers to activate the reels of the machine and make them spin. And later on, the first-ever video pokie machine was also developed to cater to the demand of the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. This opened a great opportunity for graphical interfaces, which can still be seen today.

The History of Australian Pokies
pokie machine of the last century

Years later, developers started adding more features as the world became modernised and technologies evolved. Upon the internet’s ascent, many casinos started incorporating these in the virtual world. To this day, as everything’s becoming more advanced, developers strive to improve the games more.

Pokies in Australia were originally started with one-armed bandits giving chewing gum to winners. The first local pokie machine was developed and produced by Aristocrat, explaining why it’s very reliable and locally popular. Aristocrat got their first trademark and called it the Clubman. Today, there are lots of Australian online pokies and more ways of winning.