Volumes have been said on this subject, and the contention and disharmony about where the "hot" slots are installed in a casino are still on-going – more than sixty yrs after slot machines were first placed in the casinos.
The traditional rule is that the best one armed bandits were put just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that fun seekers going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be tempted to come inside and play. Our assessment is that this is not so anymore.
Practically all of the major casinos nowadays are oversized complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slots near to any doorways.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slots are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Importantly 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 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 games.