Books have been set forth on this issue, and the contention and disagreement about where the "hot" slot games are installed in the casino are still intense – 60 years after the slot machines were first placed in casinos.
The classic rule is that the very best slot machine games were placed just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that fun seekers passing by would be able to see actual jackpot winners and be attracted to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our belief is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Almost all of the large casinos presently are super-colossal complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machines in close proximity to any of the doors.
An additional standard rule is that loose slots are placed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be galvanized to play. Importantly though, 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 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 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot machine games.