Books have been said on this topic, and the conflict and feuds about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in a casino are still on-going – more than 60 years after the slots were 1st placed in gambling houses.
The classic rule is that the very best slot games were positioned just inside the entrance of the casino; so that people passing by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be infatuated enough to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our resolution is that this is definitely no longer so.
Nearly all of the major casinos presently are colossal complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slots near any doors.
Another classic rule is that loose slot machine games are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be galvanized 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.