Volumes have been said on this issue, and the disquiet and feuds about where the "hot" one armed bandits are placed in the casino are still intense – sixty years after slot machines were 1st added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The classic rule is that the most favorable slots were positioned just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that fun seekers going by would see real jackpot winners … be smitten to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our deduction is that this is no longer the case.
Most of the big name casinos today are herculean complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot games near any doorways.
An additional classic rule is that loose one armed bandits are placed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Interestingly 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 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 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 slot machines.