In gambling, a slot refers to a position on a machine’s reels where a winning combination of symbols is most likely to appear. A player inserts cash or, in “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, a paper ticket with a barcode into the machine and activates it by pressing a lever or button (physical or virtual). The digital reels then spin and stop to rearrange the symbols. If a winning combination appears, the player earns credits based on the pay table. Symbols vary by machine, but classics include fruits, bells, and stylized lucky sevens.

When slot machines were first invented, there were only a handful of possible combinations for each reel. As technology improved, however, manufacturers began to use microprocessors in their slots to weight particular symbols differently. This meant that a symbol that appeared to be “so close” to a payline was actually less likely to appear on the machine’s multiple reels than its odds were in the earlier models.

Another term used for this phenomenon is “taste”, which refers to the small amount that a machine pays out to keep a gambler seated and betting. These tastes are sometimes paid out over the course of several pulls. When a machine fails to pay even this minimum amount over the course of several pulls, it is said to be out of “taste”.

In field hockey or ice hockey, a rectangular area near an opponent’s goal that affords a vantage point for an attacking player. Also called the blue line.