Volumes have been written on this subject, and the debates and discourse about where the "hot" slots are positioned in a casino are still happening – more than 60 years after slots were first placed in the casinos.

The quintessential rule is that the very best one armed bandits were put just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that fun seekers passing by would see actual jackpot winners … be attracted to come into the casino and play. Our observation is that this is definitely no longer so.

The great majority of the big name casinos these days are massive complexes … now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slots near any entrances or exits.

An additional traditional rule is that loose slot machine games are placed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. 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!

These days, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slots.