02.19
Slot Machine positioning
Volumes have been written on this issue, and the controversy and discourse about where the "hot" video slots are installed in a casino are still raging – 60 yrs after slot machine games were first installed in gambling dens.
The standard rule is that the most favorable slot machines were located just inside the main foyer of the casino; so that persons walking by would see actual jackpot winners … be mesmerized enough to come unto the gambling floor and play. Our deduction is that this is definitely no longer so.
Nearly all of the big name casinos nowadays are mammoth complexes and you can no longer see inside from the sidewalk, so there is no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slots near to any exits.
Yet another traditional rule is that loose slot games are positioned on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be inspired to play. Interestingly 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 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 one armed bandits.