Books have been stated on this topic, and the contention and discussion about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in a casino are still there – more than sixty years after the slot machines were 1st placed in the casinos.
The classic rule is that the more favourable slots were positioned just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that individuals walking by would see real jackpot winners and be mesmerized enough to come inside … play. Our observation is that this is definitely no longer so.
The majority of the major casinos today are jumbo complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ one armed bandits close-by any of the doors.
Yet another classic rule is that loose slot games are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Nonetheless, 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slot machine games.