12.14
Slot Machine positioning
Books have been written on this item, and the bickering and squabbling about where the "hot" one armed bandits are located in the casino are still rampant – over sixty yrs after slots were 1st placed in gambling houses.
The classic rule is that the most favorable slot games were put just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that persons going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners … be convinced to come inside … play. Our estimation is that this is definitely no longer the case.
The great majority of the mega casinos nowadays are titanic complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot machine games close to any doors.
Another classic rule is that loose one armed bandits are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be roused to play. Importantly however, 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 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 games.