A narrow depression, notch, groove, or opening, especially one for receiving something, as a keyhole in a door or the slit on a coin vending machine. Also used figuratively to refer to a position in a group, sequence, or schedule. The program was assigned a new time slot on the broadcasting schedule.
In casinos, people often believe that a slot machine that hasn’t paid out for a while is “due.” This belief can lead to machines being placed at the end of aisles where there tend to be more players. However, the odds of winning on a slot machine are determined by the Random Number Generator (RNG) – and not the location or popularity of the machine. It is also illegal for casinos to alter the payout frequency or size of a slot machine.
When playing a slot machine, a player inserts cash or, in “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, a paper ticket with a barcode into a designated slot on the machine. This activates the reels to rearrange symbols, and if a winning combination is lined up, the player earns credits based on the pay table. The symbols vary depending on the machine, but classic symbols include fruits and bells, along with stylized lucky sevens.
In computer science, a slot is an allocation of capacity to executing queries, allowing them to be gracefully paused, resumed, or queued up as needed. Using slots can reduce the amount of time that is spent waiting for a query to finish, and can prevent repeated delays due to the same queries occupying the same slot on the server.