Slot Machine positioning
Books have been said on this topic, and the debates and arguments about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in a casino are still there – 60 yrs after the slot machines were first placed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the superior one armed bandits were put just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that potential players walking by would see real jackpot winners and be mesmerized enough to come inside and play. Our inclination is that this is definitely no longer true.
The great majority of the big name casinos today are jumbo complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machines in close proximity to any entrances.
Yet another classic rule is that loose one armed bandits are located on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more fun seekers could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Nonetheless, 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 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 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 perspective about where to place the loose slots.