Video poker is the ingenious marriage of two well-loved games – poker and slot machines. Video poker includes the best elements of these two games – the strategy and structure of poker with the thrills and excitement of slot machines – and has become one of the most popular floor games in land and online casinos. In order to understand the history of video poker, one must take a glimpse at the history and development of its parent games – poker and slots.

Poker is believed to have developed from many medieval card games, among them Poche, Anas and Brag. After several adaptations, poker as we know it today began to appear in the United States in the mid-1800s, and was first documented by Jonathan Green who referred to a game that was gaining immense popularity on the Mississippi riverboats. As America was settled to the west, the game moved with the settlers and poker became a major pastime in saloons. Some of poker’s best features were added during this period such as jokers, wild cards and flushes.

Slot machines themselves were also founded on the basics of poker, with the first slot machines feature poker card face combinations. Sittman and Pitt Company from Brooklyn were the developers these coin-operated betting machines during the late 1800s. The uniqueness of these machines was that they did not pay out actual cash, but rather provided prizes such as liquor and cigars from the establishment in which they were located (bars, saloons and liquor stores).

In the late 1800s, Charles Fey developed the first slot machine which was known world-wide as Liberty Bell. Launched in 1887, this machine took the market by storm. Fey was so overwhelmed with the response to his machine that he worked non-stop to fill orders. After going solo for a few years, Fey finally joined forces with the Mills Novelty Company. Unbeknownst to Fey, he developed one of the first features of video slots in the form of the ‘draw’ feature. By allowing players to use their poker skills, players were able to stop some of the drums from spinning, while pulling on the lever to spin the remaining drums.

Video poker developed on the back of the thrill of slot machines and the love that people have for poker. During the early and mid 20th century, mechanical poker machines had various bouts of popularity and in 1964, the first electronic game machine was produced by Nevada Electronics. Other manufacturers saw the hype that the ‘21’ machine caused and began producing similar machines for roulette, poker and horseracing.

Technological innovations and the introduction of PCs in the mid-1970s were the backbone of video poker development. Fortune Coin Company introduced a video bell slot machine in 1975 which ultimately transformed into a draw-poker machine. This machine was the epitome of video poker gaming and the masses were introduced to video poker through it. In 1979, SIRCOMA developed the Draw Poker machine and its popularity was also unquestionable.  

Video poker has since become all the rage and is an essential feature in every land casino. Video poker machines allow people to cut themselves off from the rest of the casino bedlam, to focus only on their game and to minimize human contact. At the same time however, players are exposed to the exhilaration of slot machines and the brilliance of poker.

When the online casino industry exploded in the late 1990s, video poker was a natural contender to be included in the casino game line-up. Due to the already minimal human interaction needed for the game, and the fact that it was already completely computerized, it was extremely simple to create an online version of the video poker.

The online casino industry has facilitated millions of people around the globe to be introduced to the excitement of video poker. Several elements have been added to the game in the online form and classic forms of video poker include Deuces Wild, Jacks or Better and All American.