Volumes have been written on this subject, and the bickering and ruckus about where the "hot" slot games are positioned in a casino are still taking place – over 60 yrs after slot machines were 1st placed in the casinos.
The classic rule is that the better one armed bandits were located just inside the entrance of the casino; so that folks passing by would be able to see jackpot winners … be titillated to come into the casino … play. Our inference is that this is definitely no longer so.
Just about all of the large casinos these days are massive complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machines near any doors.
An additional standard rule is that loose one armed bandits are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Interestingly 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot games.