10.08
Slot Machine Location
Volumes have been stated on this subject, and the contention and disagreement about where the "hot" video slots are located in the casino are still happening – over sixty years after slot machine games were first installed in casinos.
The quintessential rule is that the more favourable one armed bandits were located just inside the main door of the casino; so that potential players walking by would see actual jackpot winners and be titillated to come into the casino … play. Our leaning is that this is no longer true.
Just about all of the major casinos presently are herculean complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machines close-by any entrances.
Another standard rule is that loose slot games are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people could see winning jackpots and be inspired to play. Nonetheless, 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 the slot machines 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 slot machines.