Volumes have been said on this matter, and the disquiet and interchanges about where the "hot" one armed bandits are installed in a casino are still ongoing – sixty years after the slot machines were first installed in gambling houses.
The traditional rule is that the most favorable one armed bandits were located just inside the main entry of the casino; so that fun seekers passing by would see actual jackpot winners and be attracted to come inside … play. Our thought is that this is definitely no longer the case.
The great majority of the large casinos presently are behemothic complexes … it’s no longer possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slots close to any of the doors.
An additional classic rule is that loose slot games are positioned on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be encouraged to play. Interestingly though, we find that this also isn’t a universal rule any more.
What casinos found over the years is that people walking down the busy aisles were frequently on the way to somewhere else. If they played the slots at all, they would simply put in their loose change because they happened to be walking by. Win or lose, they would very often not stop to keep playing. And the very last thing a casino wants is for someone to win a jackpot by playing only a few coins and then not stay to put it all back in!
In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot machines.