Books have been said on this item, and the conflict and disagreement about where the "hot" one armed bandits are placed in a casino are still happening – over 60 yrs after slot games were first placed in gambling dens.
The traditional rule is that the very best slots were positioned just inside the door of the casino; so that folks walking by would see real jackpot winners and be convinced to come into the casino and play. Our reasoning is that this is definitely no longer so.
Almost all of the big name casinos nowadays are gigantic complexes and it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slots near any entrances or exits.
Another traditional rule is that loose slot machine games are positioned on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more fun seekers could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Importantly 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 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 philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.