10.29
Slot Machine Location
Volumes have been written on this issue, and the disquiet and discourse about where the "hot" slot machine games are installed in the casino are still taking place – sixty years after slot machines were first placed in gambling dens.
The traditional rule is that the more favourable slots were located just inside the main door of the casino; so that people passing by would see jackpot winners … be possessed to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our reckoning is that this is definitely no longer so.
The majority of the major casinos these days are giant complexes and you no longer can see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to have the ‘loose’ slot machine games in close proximity to any doors.
Yet another standard 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. Importantly though, we find that this also isn’t 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 perspective about where to place the loose one armed bandits.