Books have been set forth on this subject, and the controversy and ruckus about where the "hot" slot machines are placed in a casino are still bubbling – over sixty yrs after slot machines were 1st added to the gaming floor in gambling houses.
The quintessential rule is that the very best slots were positioned just inside the main entryway of the casino; so that potential gamblers walking by would see jackpot winners … be enticed to come inside and play. Our deduction is that this is no longer the case.
Almost all of the big name casinos today are titanic complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ one armed bandits close to any entrances.
An additional classic rule is that loose slot games are located on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be motivated 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 slot games 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slots.