05.25
Slot Machine Location
Volumes have been written on this issue, and the controversy and discord about where the "hot" one armed bandits are positioned in a casino are still intense – more than 60 yrs after slot machine games were 1st placed in gambling houses.
The quintessential rule is that the most favorable slot machine games were located just inside the main entryway of the casino; so that potential players going by would see real jackpot winners … be infatuated enough to come into the casino and play. Our standpoint is that this is definitely no longer true.
Just about all of the major casinos today are enormous complexes … you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slot games close-by any exits.
Another standard rule is that loose one armed bandits are located on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more potential gamblers could see winning jackpots and be energized to play. Notably though, 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 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 philosophy about where to place the loose slot machines.