Volumes have been said on this issue, and the bickering and disharmony about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in a casino are still taking place – 60 years after the slot machines were 1st placed in the casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the more favourable one armed bandits were installed just inside the entrance of the casino; so that fun seekers walking by would see jackpot winners and be infatuated enough to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our conclusion is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Almost all of the mega casinos these days are mammoth complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machine games close-by any doors.
Another classic rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be roused 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 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 one armed bandits.