Volumes have been said on this item, and the contention and ruckus about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in the casino are still ongoing – over 60 yrs after the slots were 1st added to the gaming floor in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the best one armed bandits were put just inside the door of the casino; so that potential players going by would see real jackpot winners and be drawn to come inside and play. Our reasoning is that this is not so anymore.
Most of the large casinos presently are massive complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slots in close proximity to any entrances or exits.
Another traditional rule is that loose slot games are located on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Notably 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 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!
These days, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slot machines.