Volumes have been said on this issue, and the controversy and discourse about where the "hot" one armed bandits are installed in a casino are still taking place – sixty years after slot games were first added to the gaming floor in gambling dens.
The classic rule is that the most favorable one armed bandits were positioned just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that potential players passing by would be able to see actual jackpot winners and be inspired to come unto the gaming floor and play. Our inference is that this is definitely no longer so.
Most of the mega casinos presently are oversized complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slots in close proximity to any doorways.
Another standard rule is that loose slots are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be inspired to play. Importantly however, 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slots.