To trace back the roots of video poker, one has to take a trip back to the Wild Wild West, for it was little over four decades after the California Gold Rush of 1848 that video poker machines were first conceived..

As things stand to this day, wherever there's money, there's gambling. And naturally, card games like poker were a popular commodity to this effect in the saloons of the Wild West. Another popular gambling activity during this time took the form of coin-operated slot machines, which started showing up as early as the late 1880's. It was soon after when the first poker machine was played, which was simply the inevitable combination of five-card draw poker and  coin slots - and which, in true Wild West fashion, had a separate payout schedule for free cigars and drinks.

The first poker machines - called drop card machines - were manufactured in 1891 by the Brooklyn, NY duo known as Sittman and Pitt. By 1896, a gaming machine industry had been ignited, with operations by the likes of Monarch Card Machine Company leading the way. But it was the inventor of the "Liberty Bell" slot machine (1899), Charles Fey, who churned out the first poker machines most closely serving as the prototype for today's casino video poker machines. Fey ran a factory where the first "wheel machines" capable of payouts were created. He also developed the popular 50-card "6-Way Paying Teller" and The Duke, which had its cards mounted on five separate reels (spinning drums).

Following the legalization of slot machines in 1897, Fey's greatest contribution to the evolution of video poker took place in 1910, when he incorporated the "draw" feature on his poker machines, which is used on all video poker machines to this day. Fey later developed what he called the "Skill-Draw" machine, which achieved enormous success from 1935 until just prior to the start of the first World War. It wouldn't be until 1970 that poker machines were developed into video poker machines, and not until the 80's in which the "video poker craze" would go down (much like the "online poker craze" taking place today).

Thanks to the advent of personal computers in 1975, it became possible to incorporate a playing screen with a central processing unit (cpu) that was programmed to deal cards in true five-card draw fashion. This became the very first video poker machine, and it was introduced in Las Vegas casinos in 1975. These machines, however, were not trusted by the majority of players because of the fact that there were no longer any tangible spinning drums that could be seen with the naked eye. As a result, the first casino video poker machines did not fare very well in casinos.

It took the casino gaming technology giant, IGT (International Gaming Technology) - then known as Sir Redd's Coin Machines (aka SIRCOMA) - to instill the trust factor. However, IGT can't take all the credit. There were other company's doing their part at this time as well. In fact, it was the Fortune Coin Company that introduced the first video bell slot machine in 1975, which was later converted into a color-screen draw poker machine using Bally Gaming's black-and-white prototype. By 1979, IGT introduced a draw poker machine of their own, and soon thereafter, the popularity of video poker began to grow in Las Vegas casinos.

1990 was another milestone in the history of the video poker machine. This was when the first non-coin operated machines made their way onto the casino floor. These days, animated ticket video poker machines have replaced practically all coin machines and are one of the most popular commodities in the casino. Accepting low bets ($0.25 and higher) and offering better payouts than their predecessors, today's video poker machines still offer a great chance of winning for the strategic player holding a small bankroll.

Video poker made it's way to the internet in 1994, when software pioneers, Microgaming and Cryptologic introduced the first online casino software platforms. Along with it came several versions of online video poker, including Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Aces and Faces. These days, players are likely to find over fifty varieties of online video poker (at Microgaming casinos), including Deuces and Joker, Double Joker, Joker Poker and Jackpot Deuces and several versions of Bonus and Power Poker, Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better.