Volumes have been stated on this matter, and the bickering and arguments about where the "hot" slot machines are positioned in the casino are still on-going – more than sixty years after slot games were first added to the gaming floor in casinos.
The standard rule is that the better one armed bandits were positioned just inside the main entry of the casino; so that fun seekers going by would see actual jackpot winners … be stimulated to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our opinion is that this is definitely no longer so.
Many of the large casinos nowadays are titanic complexes … it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slot machine games close-by any of the doors.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be encouraged to play. Notably 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 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 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 perspective about where to place the loose slot machine games.