Books have been stated on this item, and the debates and ruckus about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in the casino are still intense – over sixty years after slot games were first placed in casinos.
The traditional rule is that the best slot machines were located just inside the door of the casino; so that everyone going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners and be tempted to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our disposition is that this is not so anymore.
The great majority of the big name casinos presently are gigantic complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machine games close-by any of the doors.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose one armed bandits are located on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Notably 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 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 perspective about where to place the loose slot machines.