Volumes have been written on this issue, and the disquiet and interchanges about where the "hot" video slots are positioned in a casino are still intense – over sixty years after the slots were first installed in gambling houses.

The traditional rule is that the better slot games were positioned just inside the entry of the casino; so that folks walking by would be able to see real jackpot winners and be smitten to come unto the gambling floor … play. Our theorem is that this is definitely no longer so.

Almost all of the large casinos these days are immense complexes and it is not possible to see inside from the sidewalk, so there’s no longer a reason to place the ‘loose’ slot machine games in close proximity to any entrances or exits.

Yet another classic rule is that loose slot machines are installed on the major aisles in the casinos, again so that more folks could see winning jackpots and be motivated 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 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 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!

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