Volumes have been stated on this topic, and the controversy and feuds about where the "hot" slot games are positioned in the casino are still intense – over 60 years after the slots were 1st placed in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the better one armed bandits were positioned just inside the door of the casino; so that everyone passing by would see actual jackpot winners and be intrigued enough to come into the casino and play. Our standpoint is that this is not so anymore.
Nearly all of the major casinos these days are jumbo complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machines near any of the doors.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slot games are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more fun seekers could see winning jackpots and be encouraged to play. Notably however, 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 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 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 perspective about where to place the loose one armed bandits.