Volumes have been written on this issue, and the debates and face-offs about where the "hot" slot machine games are located in a casino are still ongoing – over sixty yrs after one armed bandits were first added to the gaming floor in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the most favorable one armed bandits were installed just inside the main door of the casino; so that fun seekers passing by would be able to see jackpot winners and be influenced to come into the casino … play. Our sneaking suspicion is that this is not so anymore.
Many of the major casinos presently are humongous complexes … you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slot machines near any exits.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slot machine games are located on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be inspired 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slot games.