Books have been written on this issue, and the controversy and disharmony about where the "hot" slots are located in a casino are still passionate – over sixty years after slot machine games were 1st added to the gaming floor in the casinos.

The traditional rule is that the superior one armed bandits were put just inside the main entryway of the casino; so that potential gamblers walking by would be able to see jackpot winners … be convinced to come unto the gaming floor … play. Our finding is that this is definitely no longer the case.

The great majority of the large casinos today are immense complexes and now you can’t see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to position the ‘loose’ one armed bandits near to any exits.

Yet another traditional rule is that loose one armed bandits are positioned 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 slots 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!

In recent times, casinos are constantly changing their philosophy about where to place the loose one armed bandits.