Books have been written on this topic, and the debates and face-offs about where the "hot" slots are positioned in the casino are still on-going – 60 yrs after slot machine games were first placed in gambling dens.
The classic rule is that the most favorable slot games were positioned just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that everyone walking by would be able to see jackpot winners … be intrigued enough to come inside and play. Our position is that this is no longer the case.
The majority of the mega casinos nowadays are grand complexes … you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machines near to any doors.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose one armed bandits are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Interestingly though, 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 one armed bandits 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slot machines.