04.18
Slot Machine Location
Books have been said on this topic, and the contention and arguments about where the "hot" video slots are located in a casino are still rampant – over 60 yrs after slot machines were first added to the gaming floor in gambling dens.
The quintessential rule is that the better one armed bandits were installed just inside the entrance of the casino; so that potential players going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners and be enticed to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our disposition is that this is definitely no longer the case.
The great majority of the big name casinos today are humongous complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ slot games near any entrances.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slot machines are placed on the major aisles inside the casinos, again so that more potential players could see winning jackpots and be galvanized 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose slot games.