Volumes have been set forth on this subject, and the bickering and interchanges about where the "hot" slot machine games are positioned in the casino are still happening – more than 60 years after slots were first installed in the casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the most favorable slot machines were placed just inside the main entryway of the casino; so that casino fanatics passing by would see jackpot winners … be attracted to come inside … play. Our deduction is that this is no longer true.
The great majority of the big name casinos these days are super-colossal complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machines near to any of the doors.
An additional traditional rule is that loose slots are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Importantly though, we find that this also is not 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 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 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.