Volumes have been said on this subject, and the disquiet and feuds about where the "hot" one armed bandits are placed in a casino are still raging – 60 yrs after the slots were 1st placed in the casinos.
The traditional rule is that the best slot machines were positioned just inside the door of the casino; so that fun seekers walking by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be baited to come inside … play. Our position is that this is no longer true.
Just about all of the big name casinos these days are massive complexes and it’s no longer possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machine games close-by any doorways.
Another standard rule is that loose one armed bandits are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Interestingly 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 the slots 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot machine games.