Books have been set forth on this matter, and the disquiet and feuds about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in a casino are still bubbling – sixty yrs after the slots were 1st placed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the superior slot machines were positioned just inside the main door of the casino; so that fun seekers walking by would be able to see jackpot winners … be baited to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our inference is that this is definitely no longer true.
The great majority of the mega casinos nowadays are grand complexes … it’s no longer possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slot games close to any of the doors.
Another traditional rule is that loose slot machine games are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be influenced 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 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.
