Books have been said on this subject, and the controversy and disagreement about where the "hot" one armed bandits are installed in the casino are still intense – sixty years after slot machine games were first placed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the superior slots were placed just inside the main entry of the casino; so that folks going by would see actual jackpot winners and be titillated to come inside and play. Our determination is that this is no longer true.
The majority of the big name casinos nowadays are massive complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to situate the ‘loose’ slot machines close-by any entrances.
Another standard rule is that loose slot machine games are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Importantly 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 slot games 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose one armed bandits.