Books have been said on this issue, and the bickering and arguments about where the "hot" video slots are positioned in a casino are still passionate – sixty yrs after slot games were first added to the gaming floor in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the most favorable slot machine games were positioned just inside the main entryway of the casino; so that persons going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be challenged to come into the casino and play. Our deduction is that this is definitely no longer so.
Nearly all of the large casinos these days are gigantic complexes and it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slots close-by any exits.
Yet another classic rule is that loose slot games are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. Notably however, 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot games.