Volumes have been said on this subject, and the bickering and squabbling about where the "hot" slot machine games are positioned in a casino are still happening – 60 years after slot machine games were 1st added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The traditional rule is that the best slot games were installed just inside the main door of the casino; so that folks going by would be able to see real jackpot winners … be convinced to come inside and play. Our inclination is that this is definitely no longer true.
The majority of the mega casinos today are colossal complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ one armed bandits near to any doors.
An additional traditional rule is that loose slots are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be galvanized 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 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 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!
In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slot games.