Volumes have been said on this topic, and the disquiet and discord about where the "hot" one armed bandits are placed in the casino are still on-going – sixty years after slot machine games were 1st installed in gambling houses.
The classic rule is that the superior slot machines were installed just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that potential gamblers walking by would see real jackpot winners … be infatuated enough to come inside … play. Our conclusion is that this is definitely no longer so.
Most of the major casinos nowadays are super-colossal complexes … it’s no longer possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slots near to any of the doors.
An additional traditional rule is that loose one armed bandits are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more fun seekers could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. However, we find that this also isn’t 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 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 slot games.