A coin-operated gambling machine was first invented in 1895 by San Francisco inventor Charles Fey. Ten years later, he invented the first “true slot machine.” It had three reels and automatically paid winners. In 1915, the machines were camouflaged to avoid anti-gambling laws and dispensed things like cigarettes, candy and gum every time the handle was pulled. The gum was decorated with illustrations of the flavors. The fruit and bar symbols on machines today evolved from these illustrations. Source: University of New Orleans professor George Fenich’s 1996 paper, “A Chronology of (Legal) Gaming in the U.S.”