Volumes have been said on this matter, and the debates and arguments about where the "hot" slot games are placed in a casino are still intense – over sixty years after the slot machines were 1st placed in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the better one armed bandits were placed just inside the main door of the casino; so that persons passing by would see jackpot winners … be enthralled to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our feeling is that this is definitely no longer so.
Many of the major casinos presently are huge complexes … you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machines in close proximity to any entrances or exits.
Another classic rule is that loose slots are positioned on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be galvanized 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 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 slots.