Volumes have been set forth on this topic, and the conflict and face-offs about where the "hot" slot games are installed in a casino are still intense – over sixty years after one armed bandits were 1st added to the gaming floor in casinos.
The standard rule is that the more favourable slots were installed just inside the entry of the casino; so that everyone walking by would be able to see real jackpot winners … be smitten to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our speculation is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Nearly all of the large casinos nowadays are mammoth complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ one armed bandits close to any doorways.
Yet another classic rule is that loose slot machine games are positioned on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be encouraged to play. Notably though, we find that this also is no longer a universal rule.
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 slot machines 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 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 games.