A slot is a small area of space on a motherboard that can hold an expansion card, such as an ISA, PCI, or AGP slot. It is typically located next to the CPU slot, and may also be found in the motherboard’s BIOS or firmware. Unlike the physical slots on a slot machine, which can only be used once, a virtual slot can be filled and reused as many times as desired.

In football, a slot receiver is a third-string wide receiver who is mostly used on passing downs. He catches passes underneath and can be involved in trick plays such as end-arounds. Usually, great ones have other duties as well, like blocking and running long routes to open up passes for their teammate.

Online casinos have a variety of slot games, but they all operate the same way. The outcome of a spin is determined by random number generation. Understanding the basics of how slots work can help you decide which games to play and which to avoid.

An airport slot is the permission given by a coordinator to an airline to land or depart at a congested airport. The process is called central flow management and it has dramatically reduced delays and fuel burn for airlines. Airlines can buy slot rights for a fee and these can be extremely valuable, with one early morning landing slot at Heathrow selling for $75 million in 2016. In addition to buying airport slots, airlines can also lease them from EUROCONTROL’s network manager as part of its flow and capacity management function.