Books have been set forth on this issue, and the disquiet and disharmony about where the "hot" slot games are placed in a casino are still bubbling – more than 60 years after slot games were first installed in gambling dens.
The traditional rule is that the very best one armed bandits were put just inside the entrance of the casino; so that people walking by would be able to see real jackpot winners and be tempted to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our disposition is that this is definitely no longer true.
The majority of the major casinos nowadays are massive complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ one armed bandits in close proximity to any of the doors.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Notably 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 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slots.