The birth of video poker stems in large part from, of course, the game of poker itself but also the invention of slot machines. Appealing to people familiar with the game of poker as well as those fond of the ease-of-use inherent in slots, Video Poker has evolved over the years into one of the most popular non-table games in casinos, both on land and online.

By 1899 Charles Frey introduced the famous Liberty bell slot machine. Playing card symbols were replaced with hearts, spades, bells and horseshoes, rather than Kings, Queens etc. Instead of poker hands making winning combinations, the players had to instead hit a set number of the symbols to get a payout. So many years poker hands didn't appear on any machines.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, around the same time actually as personal computers were being developed and enhanced, video poker became a reality when technology became advance - and economical - enough to combine a CPU with a television-like monitor. As you can imagine, the first video poker games at this time were pretty primitive.

As technology improved and industry leaders saw the potential of this technology, everyone started getting in on the action. ‘Solid State’ (referring to the combination of the central processing unit and television-like monitor) roulette, horse racing, and poker were all available at this time and it was Dale Electronic's `Poker-Matic` that experienced the greatest level of notoriety and success.

When the Fortune Coin Company built a video bell slot machine in 1975, the apparatus soon transformed into a draw poker machine and soared in popularity. After the video chip was invented later in the mid-70s, and after SIRCOMA (which you know today as International Game Technology - STILL a leader in the field!) introduces its `Draw Poker` in 1979, there was really no looking back.

Through the 1980's the popularity of both video poker and slots grew. People who had previously felt intimidated by the well known casino table games had now found there comfort zone at the machines. As technology has improved and better machines have been made the popularity of video poker has continued to grow. Many new variations of the game have been introduced.

The internet has also proved to only increase the exposure of video poker. High speed internet has enabled many players to play online and introduced the game to countries or cities that don't even have live casinos. In 1994 Microgaming produced the first online casino software and have since introduced many varieties of video poker as have other software providers. Video poker soon became, and remains to this day, a popular fixture in nearly every casino.