05.02
Slot Machine Location
Books have been set forth on this issue, and the controversy and squabbling about where the "hot" video slots are located in a casino are still rampant – sixty years after slot machine games were first installed in gambling houses.
The traditional rule is that the very best slot machines were put just inside the entrance of the casino; so that potential gamblers going by would be able to see jackpot winners … be enticed to come into the casino and play. Our position is that this is not so anymore.
Just about all of the major casinos presently are enormous complexes … it’s no longer possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to put the ‘loose’ slot machine games near to any entrances or exits.
Yet another classic rule is that loose slot games are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more persons could see winning jackpots and be encouraged to play. Nonetheless, 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 slot machine games 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!
Nowadays, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose slots.