05.04
Slot Machine Location
Volumes have been written on this issue, and the controversy and face-offs about where the "hot" slot games are installed in a casino are still ongoing – sixty yrs after slot machines were first installed in casinos.
The classic rule is that the best slot machines were put just inside the main door of the casino; so that fun seekers going by would be able to see actual jackpot winners and be enticed to come into the casino … play. Our theorem is that this is definitely no longer true.
The majority of the big name casinos these days are magnificent complexes … you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to situate the ‘loose’ slots near any exits.
Yet another standard rule is that loose slot machine games are put on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more people 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 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their perspective about where to place the loose one armed bandits.