Books have been stated on this issue, and the controversy and discussion about where the "hot" slots are positioned in the casino are still passionate – sixty yrs after slots were 1st placed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the better one armed bandits were located just inside the main door of the casino; so that casino fanatics passing by would be able to see real jackpot winners … be baited to come inside … play. Our resolution is that this is definitely no longer so.
Many of the large casinos nowadays are massive complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ one armed bandits near to any doors.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slot machine games are located on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be inspired to play. Notably 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 slot games 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 slot machines.