Books have been stated on this matter, and the disquiet and disagreement about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in the casino are still bubbling – over sixty years after the slots were first added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The traditional rule is that the best slot games were installed just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that persons passing by would see real jackpot winners … be challenged to come inside and play. Our frame of mind is that this is not so anymore.
Nearly all of the mega casinos today are monstrous complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ one armed bandits in close proximity to any entrances or exits.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slots are positioned on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. Notably however, 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slot games.