A narrow notch, groove, hole, or opening, such as a keyway in a door or window, or a slit for coins in a vending machine. Also: a position in a group, series, or sequence; a berth on an airplane, ship, or train; a time of day when something can be done; a vacancy, niche, or appointment. From Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition Copyright
a vacancy, niche, or appointment
In football, a slot receiver is the player in a position to receive passes from the quarterback for either running or passing plays. In recent seasons, teams have begun to rely on these players more as offenses move away from the traditional wide receiver/running back combination and toward a 3-receiver/back package. Because slot receivers are physically shorter and faster than the majority of other wide receivers, they are often targeted more frequently by defenses.
On a slot machine, the pay table shows how the regular paying symbols and any bonus features work for that particular game. It will list the payout value of the symbols and how many of them must land to trigger certain bonus features. Some slots also include a wild symbol, which can replace other symbols to create winning combinations.
Progressive jackpot slots usually offer lower odds of hitting the top prize than regular slot machines. This is because they use microprocessors to assign different probabilities to each symbol on a reel, making it seem that some symbols are more likely to appear than others. However, the actual probability of hitting a particular prize is determined by a combination of the number of spins, the total amount staked on all of the slots, and the size of the jackpot.