Volumes have been written on this issue, and the debates and feuds about where the "hot" video slots are installed in a casino are still intense – more than sixty yrs after slots were 1st installed in gambling houses.
The classic rule is that the very best one armed bandits were placed just inside the main door of the casino; so that potential gamblers going by would see jackpot winners … be possessed to come unto the gaming floor and play. Our sentiment is that this is not so anymore.
The great majority of the mega casinos nowadays are grand complexes … you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ one armed bandits close to any of the doors.
Another classic rule is that loose slot games are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be encouraged to play. Interestingly though, we find that this also is no longer a universal rule.
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 slot machines 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 slot machine games.