03.11
Slot Machine positioning
Books have been written on this topic, and the contention and discussion about where the "hot" slot machines are placed in a casino are still bubbling – over sixty years after slots were 1st added to the gaming floor in the casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the superior slot machine games were positioned just inside the main entry of the casino; so that persons walking by would be able to see real jackpot winners … be smitten to come inside … play. Our conviction is that this is definitely no longer so.
Almost all of the major casinos these days are titanic complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slot machines close-by any of the doors.
Yet another classic rule is that loose slot machines are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be galvanized to play. Notably however, we find that this also is not 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 the slots 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 perspective about where to place the loose slot games.