Books have been set forth on this topic, and the bickering and discourse about where the "hot" slot machines are placed in a casino are still passionate – more than 60 years after slot machine games were 1st added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The traditional rule is that the most favorable one armed bandits were installed just inside the main door of the casino; so that everyone going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be drawn to come inside … play. Our sneaking suspicion is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Just about all of the big name casinos presently are oversized complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slot machines near any exits.
Yet another classic rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be galvanized to play. 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 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 very 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 perspective about where to place the loose slot machine games.