Volumes have been said on this subject, and the disquiet and discourse about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in the casino are still there – more than 60 years after one armed bandits were first placed in the casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the most favorable one armed bandits were installed just inside the main entry of the casino; so that everyone walking by would see real jackpot winners … be captivated to come inside … play. Our assessment is that this is definitely no longer the case.
The great majority of the big name casinos today are herculean complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machines close to any of the doors.
An additional traditional rule is that loose slot machines are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Notably though, 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 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.