Gaming machines often feature a large sign attached to the top of them, advertising the biggest jackpot that can be won in any one game – which is now £100 on the more modern pub machines and up to £400 on club machines.
But is the chance of monetary reward the greatest motivating factor in deciding whether or not people put their coin in the slot?
According to a study in the July 2014 edition of the Journal of Gambling Studies, financial profit is probably not the motivation for the majority of players.
Instead, there are lots of emotional reasons why gamblers play pub and club fruit machines.
“Comparison of the competing models revealed that gambling for the chance to win money was not the most prominent motivation,” the researchers write.
Rather, they found that many people perceive gambling as an escape, a source of excitement, a social event and even a way to feel more self-important.
Many of these motivations can be found in other pastimes, such as competitive sport, which surprisingly could suggest that the same driving forces lead people to play on pub pool tables as on slot machines.