Volumes have been written on this matter, and the disquiet and discord about where the "hot" slot machines are positioned in the casino are still raging – over sixty yrs after slot machine games were first added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The quintessential rule is that the very best one armed bandits were placed just inside the main entryway of the casino; so that potential players walking by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be drawn to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our stance is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Nearly all of the major casinos today are giant complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to situate the ‘loose’ slots near to any entrances or exits.
Another standard rule is that loose slot games are placed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Nonetheless, 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 one armed bandits 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 philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.