Last month I was in Atlantic City and wandering around the premises of the hotel after a not too productive session of slot machine play. I must admit that while the thrill of winning always appeals to me, the actual visuals of some of the slot machines really piques my interest but therein lies the dilemma – You are NOT allowed to take photographs on the casino floor.  That bothered me a little bit as a photographer since there are so many cool machines out there.  I have seen a Star Wars and Star Trek one, an Ebay one and many, many more.  I am sure that even KISS has its own machine but I just have not seen it yet.  Moving along.  As I wandered the hotel lobby I happened upon this icon of the hotels history and snapped a shot. It was apparently the first ever slot machine to be installed. Feel free to utter awed sighs of amazement.

The plaque above this relic reads “This is the first legal slot machine in Atlantic City and was installed on the Resort’s International casino floor in 1978. It can be identified as the first machine by the number 1 on the lower right side of the cabinet. Since that time more than 14,900 different machines……” Sadly I blocked the rest of the sign but I guess it’s pretty safe to say that there are now over that many machines in this particular casino floor and since there are numerous casinos to enjoy on the Atlantic City Boardwalk we are likely talking about a couple of hundred thousand in total. That is surely a lot of money coming in and all the more reason that we should finally have gambling of this kind be legal in New York State. I think casinos on the West Side highway would be awesome for tourism. Something to think about.

How To See This: Go to Atlantic City, NJ to the Resort’s International hotel and casino and wander the lobby until you chance upon it.