Before, slot machines or commonly known now as pokies, were operated completely by simple machines such as, pulling a lever to begin the pokies game. But now, pokies have been using a lot more complicated technologies to create more entertainment for the gamblers and for the operators as well. Though, more pokies machines still exist with the old school levers at each side of it, the levers merely stands just for a design superseded by the buttons now which plays a crucial role for the pokies machines to run in the traditional lever’s stead.

Slot machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or money inserted to play. The machine pays off based on patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern computer technology has resulted in many variations on the slot machine concept. Slot machines are the most popular gambling method in casinos and constitute about 70 percent of the average casino's income. It is estimated that thirty percent or more of the profits from gambling machines come from problem gamblers.

After the use of levers in the pokies machines, these addicting games eventually made use of reels to display and determine results. The reels used in the game historically were three but because, there are a small number of possible outcomes with it, became five to make the manufacturer offer large jackpots. However, there were still problems associated with the use of reels which is why the manufacturers of pokies machines incorporated electronics in it.

Subsequently, the pokies machines were merely a shadow of its original self due its computerization. With microprocessors now ubiquitous, the computers inside modern pokies machines let manufacturers to assign a different probability to every symbol on every reel making the game more exciting to the gamblers as well as to the operators again.

With no moving parts at all but instead with a graphical representation of one appears on screen, the video pokies machine is a more recent innovation of pokies. Since the player is actually playing a computer game, the manufacturers are able to offer more interactive and more exciting aspects. For instance, it has now advanced bonus games and advanced video graphics. These new pokies machines have been selling like hot pancakes the first time it came out to public consumption all over the world.

Moreover, because there are no mechanical constraints on the design of video slot machines, most display five reels instead of three. This again, heavily expands the number of possibilities: a machine can have 50 or more symbols on a reel, giving odds as high as 300 million to 1 against – enough for even the largest jackpot. As there are so many combinations given by five reels, the manufacturers do not need to weight the payout symbols. Instead, higher paying symbols will typically appear only once or twice on each reel, while more common symbols, earning a more frequent payout, will appear many times.