Volumes have been written on this subject, and the debates and face-offs about where the "hot" slots are placed in a casino are still rampant – over sixty years after slots were 1st installed in the casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the superior slot games were positioned just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that people going by would see actual jackpot winners … be mesmerized enough to come into the casino and play. Our reckoning is that this is definitely no longer so.
Most of the mega casinos nowadays are herculean complexes … you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slot games near to any entrances or exits.
Another traditional rule is that loose one armed bandits are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be motivated 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 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.