Volumes have been said on this issue, and the controversy and ruckus about where the "hot" video slots are located in a casino are still on-going – sixty years after the slot machines were 1st placed in gambling dens.
The classic rule is that the very best one armed bandits were put just inside the main door of the casino; so that folks walking by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be baited to come unto the gaming floor and play. Our leaning is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Most of the large casinos these days are huge complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot games near any of the doors.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slot machine games are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Importantly however, 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 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!
In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.