Books have been written on this item, and the controversy and face-offs about where the "hot" slot games are positioned in a casino are still intense – more than 60 yrs after the slots were first placed in casinos.
The standard rule is that the most favorable slots were placed just inside the main entry of the casino; so that fun seekers walking by would see jackpot winners … be possessed to come inside … play. Our speculation is that this is definitely no longer the case.
The majority of the large casinos presently are jumbo complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machine games close to any entrances.
An additional standard rule is that loose slot games are put on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be inspired to play. Notably though, 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 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 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!
Today, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slots.