Books have been stated on this topic, and the conflict and discourse about where the "hot" slots are positioned in the casino are still taking place – more than sixty yrs after slot machine games were 1st added to the gaming floor in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the best slot machine games were placed just inside the main door of the casino; so that folks walking by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be aroused to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our leaning is that this is no longer the case.
Just about all of the mega casinos these days are grand complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ one armed bandits close to any doors.
An additional standard rule is that loose slots are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. 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 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot machines.