Books have been stated on this issue, and the contention and discord about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in a casino are still on-going – sixty years after slot machine games were first placed in the casinos.
The standard rule is that the more favourable slots were positioned just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that potential gamblers walking by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be stimulated to come into the casino … play. Our assessment is that this is definitely no longer true.
Most of the major casinos today are giant complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to situate the ‘loose’ slots near any doors.
An additional classic rule is that loose slot machine games are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. However, 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 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot games.