Volumes have been written on this issue, and the disquiet and face-offs about where the "hot" slots are installed in the casino are still raging – over sixty years after slot machines were first added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The quintessential rule is that the superior slots were positioned just inside the entrance of the casino; so that potential players passing by would see real jackpot winners … be challenged to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our assessment is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Practically all of the big name casinos these days are titanic complexes … it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slots close-by any doorways.
Another traditional rule is that loose slots are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people 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 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 philosophy about where to place the loose slots.