Volumes have been written on this item, and the debates and feuds about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in the casino are still happening – over sixty years after slot machine games were first placed in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the best one armed bandits were installed just inside the main door of the casino; so that people walking by would be able to see jackpot winners … be inspired to come into the casino and play. Our theory is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Practically all of the large casinos these days are humongous complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machine games near any doors.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slot machines are put on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be roused 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 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!
In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.