A slot is a narrow opening or groove in something, like a hole that you put coins in to make it work. A slot can also be a keyway, slit, or hole in a piece of machinery, or a way to open a container.

The word slot came from the Middle Low German slotte, which meant “a narrow notch or groove” or from a related word. In English, it’s most often used to refer to a narrow opening in a coin slot of a machine, although it can also be applied to any kind of slot, including a keyway or slit.

Casinos are regulated by state laws and most jurisdictions prohibit the sale of slot machines in public. In addition, most states limit the amount of money that can be wagered at a given time.

Flow management and slot authorizations

Air traffic control coordinates flights at airports using slots, which are authorizations to take off or land within a certain time period on a given day. This helps reduce delays and fuel burn caused by air traffic.

Prewarming and easy fallbacks

You can deploy to a staging slot before swapping to production, which provides an opportunity for the app instance to warm up and reduces latency for HTTP-triggered workloads. You can also use a slot for other purposes, such as logging and diagnostics.

Bonuses and ways to win

Most video slot machines count bonuses automatically when they appear, but some require action on your part. These bonuses are called pick’em bonuses and can be an important part of your slot play.