What is it with slots?

There are many things in this world I struggle to understand. Near the top of this list is gamblers’ love of slots.

Just can’t see the appeal in a machine programmed to take your money, and return to you significantly less than you put in.

What’s the payback? Entertainment value? Surely not. Anticipation of a win? All you will win is around 95% of what you feed into the machine. Learning a skill? A monkey can push a button.

I can certainly understand operators love of slots.

Yesterday the green light was given to licensed operators in Spain to offer slots online for the first time. 10 new licensees were announced and the 20 existing licensees (the usual suspects ..Bet365, 888, Bwin.party, William Hill etc) were given the OK to expand their game suite to include slots.

They’ve all be treading water in Spain with sportsbetting, poker  and a limited range of casino games just waiting for the day they can start making some real money…slots time.

Since being introduced in Italy slots have grown to comprise over 20% of online gambling revenues in 2014 and are by far the fastest growing segment, up 27% on the previous year.

In time the story will likely be the same in Spain.