Books have been written on this issue, and the disquiet and face-offs about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in the casino are still bubbling – more than 60 years after slot machine games were first installed in the casinos.
The standard rule is that the best one armed bandits were put just inside the main entrance of the casino; so that persons going by would see actual jackpot winners and be aroused to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our estimation is that this is definitely no longer true.
Most of the mega casinos these days are magnificent complexes … it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slot machines near any of the doors.
Another standard rule is that loose one armed bandits are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be roused 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 the 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 one armed bandits.