A thin opening or groove in something, such as the slot in a door where you insert a key. Also: A position in a series or sequence, such as a time slot on a calendar or schedule. To fit or slide into a slot or other place easily: The book slotted right in when we opened it. The car seat belt slotted into place easily.

A slot machine is a game where players insert coins or paper tickets in order to win prizes like cherries, oranges and lemons. The machine then pays out the winnings according to a pay table. The pay table is usually displayed on the face of the machine, above and below the spinning reels. Modern video slots may have 9, 15, 25, or even more pay lines.

The term’slot’ is also used to describe the time that an aircraft has in which to land at an airport, or to move forward in the queue of waiting airplanes. In addition, an airline reservation system can use the word to refer to a specific position in a flight.

A slot in a casino offers a percentage back to the player over a long period of time, and can be calculated as an average of the return-to-player percentage (RTP) of each individual machine. While a slot’s RTP cannot be changed, there are ways to improve the odds of winning. One way is to look for online casinos that offer generous bonuses. These can often give you additional spins, extra money on a deposit, or other benefits.