Books have been said on this item, and the disquiet and squabbling about where the "hot" one armed bandits are installed in the casino are still rampant – over 60 years after the slots were first installed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the most favorable slots were positioned just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that fun seekers walking by would see actual jackpot winners and be drawn to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our estimation is that this is not so anymore.
Nearly all of the big name casinos presently are super-colossal complexes … it’s no longer possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ one armed bandits near to any entrances.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slot games are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more fun seekers could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. Notably though, we find that this also is no longer a universal rule.
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 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.