Gambling Superstitions.

Since the dawn of gambling superstition has always walked hand in hand with it. Sometimes a superstition is so wide spread that you can find the same gestures all over the world, kissing the dice before a roll is a very common one, others are specific to the individual, and some cultures develop a whole and unique set of beliefs which are meant to be considered either lucky or unlucky.

A lot of gamblers believe that they can perform a certain ritual and this will affect the outcome of a wager. It is a common human attribute to believe in superstition and people perform rituals everyday for various reasons; the sportsman who never washes his underwear, the tourists in Ireland who kiss the blarney stone, everyone who avoids walking under ladders, magpie salute's, crossing your fingers for luck, the Shakespearean actors who say ‘The Scottish Play' instead of ‘Macbeth'- I hope I don't break my leg now, but I think it is only actors who are liable to this particular curse.

Superstitions can cause people to behave in bizarre ways, completely over-reacting if they hear a certain word at the wrong time or see a certain number (usually the one between 12 and 14, I can't bring myself to write it!).

Sometimes a superstition will seem somewhat believable, the old tradition of washing your hands before a meal started of as a superstition, but when we discovered about microscopic bacteria, it was realised that it actually did serve a purpose, it did ward off illness.

Probably every person who has ever gambled had some form of ritual, I always pick the same numbers on the lottery because I think they are lucky, it does not matter how scientific and logical a person is, they seem unable to resist the temptation of superstition.

Here are some of the more common sets of belief that you will encounter in the gambling community:

The breaking of a mirror, a black cat, a dog near the gambling table and a magpie are all considered to be bad luck in the Western culture.

Four leaf clovers, rabbit foot, a horseshoe hung the correct way around over the threshold of an establishment and crossing fingers are all considered to be omens of good luck in Western culture. Indecently, the crossing of the fingers has a religious foundation, it is meant to represent the cross and people used it to ward off evil spirits, in the beginning the gesture was hidden from view, but now people use it openly, many people do not realise the symbolism in this gesture.

Many psychological studies have revealed the superstitious nature of people, and gamblers in particular, this does not mean that a person who uses good luck omens is in any way an addictive gambler, it just shows that thy are human.

In the 1980's, psychologists from the University of Laval in Canada researched the nature of superstition with regards to gambling, participants were asked to verbalise their thoughts as they went about their gambling.

The participants were shown to have many false believes that had no basis in fact, they said things like: "The machine is due; I need to continue"; "Here is my lucky dealer; I always win with him"; and "Today I feel good; it must be my lucky day." The results were found across the board, with such beliefs being voiced regardless of the game, but people did verbalise more the more intense the state of play was.

Superstitious leaders:
Without a doubt the Chinese are amongst the most superstitious cultures in the world; this is especially true when it comes to gambling. Some of the superstitions associated with gambling in China have become a part of their culture and are well respected techniques in which most believe.

They have a certain propensity towards picking specific numbers, believing that they all have individual attributes that can make or break a person's bankroll. They will even go so far as to make decisions regarding which suites to stay in at a casino hotel depending on what they believe about the room number.

For the Chinese, the number 8 is said to denote fortune, whereas the number 58 is associated with bad fortune. Maybe this could be part of the reason for the popularity of the casino 888 in China? They also make combinations with their numbers to make super lucky numbers.