Volumes have been written on this matter, and the disquiet and feuds about where the "hot" slot games are placed in a casino are still ongoing – more than sixty yrs after the slots were first placed in gambling dens.
The traditional rule is that the better one armed bandits were placed just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that fun seekers walking by would see jackpot winners … be infatuated enough to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our sneaking suspicion is that this is definitely no longer the case.
Many of the mega casinos today are humongous complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slot machines near to any exits.
Another classic rule is that loose slots are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be influenced to play. Notably though, we find that this also is no longer a universal rule.
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!
In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slots.