Books have been set forth on this item, and the controversy and discourse about where the "hot" slots are located in a casino are still on-going – more than 60 yrs after one armed bandits were 1st installed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the more favourable slots were located just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that potential gamblers going by would see actual jackpot winners and be enticed to come into the casino … play. Our interpretation is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Just about all of the large casinos these days are mammoth complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machine games close to any of the doors.
An additional classic rule is that loose slot games are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Notably however, 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 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 philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.