Books have been said on this matter, and the conflict and disagreement about where the "hot" slot games are positioned in the casino are still on-going – more than 60 yrs after the slot machines were 1st placed in the casinos.
The classic rule is that the very best one armed bandits were put just inside the entry of the casino; so that folks passing by would see actual jackpot winners … be stimulated to come into the casino … play. Our resolution is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Practically all of the large casinos these days are titanic complexes … it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machines near any of the doors.
Yet another classic rule is that loose one armed bandits are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. Nonetheless, 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 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 philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.