Slot Machine positioning
Books have been written on this issue, and the debates and discussion about where the "hot" slot machines are placed in the casino are still bubbling – more than 60 yrs after slots were 1st installed in gambling houses.
The quintessential rule is that the better slot machine games were put just inside the main doorway of the casino; so that potential gamblers going by would see jackpot winners and be influenced to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our feeling is that this is definitely no longer true.
The great majority of the major casinos nowadays are super-colossal complexes and it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot games in close proximity to any doorways.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slot machine games are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Interestingly though, 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 one armed bandits 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 perspective about where to place the loose slot machines.