01.09
Slot Machine positioning
Books have been set forth on this issue, and the disquiet and face-offs about where the "hot" slot games are placed in the casino are still intense – over 60 yrs after slot machines were 1st added to the gaming floor in the casinos.
The standard rule is that the very best slot machine games were placed just inside the main doorway of the casino; so that people walking by would be able to see actual jackpot winners and be intrigued enough to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our theorem is that this is definitely no longer so.
Nearly all of the mega casinos presently are oversized complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ one armed bandits near any exits.
An additional standard rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be motivated to play. Importantly 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 slot games 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!
In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.