Books have been stated on this issue, and the bickering and discord about where the "hot" slot machine games are positioned in the casino are still rampant – 60 years after slot machine games were first installed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the best one armed bandits were located just inside the main doorway of the casino; so that individuals walking by would see jackpot winners and be influenced to come into the casino … play. Our disposition is that this is definitely no longer true.
Many of the mega casinos today are magnificent complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to situate the ‘loose’ slot games close to any doors.
An additional classic rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Interestingly though, 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 one armed bandits 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slots.