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Some of you will be avoiding black cats, walking under ladders and even gambling this Friday The 13th. The black cats and ladders we can see, but staying away from gambling?
One would think that the anti-gambling crusaders that we are, the last thing those of us here at Gambling911.com might be espousing is to gamble on Friday The 13th. But that’s exactly what we are about to do and here are the reasons why.
Some years ago, we sent our man about town, Jagajeet Chiba, to examine the ultimate implications of gambling on a day known for its bad luck (not to mention a very bad film).
It’s all about turning the tables, he explained back then.
Friday The 13th, like gambling, has its roots in sin. Hence, they offset one another.
A perfect example would be the equally as untoward holiday Halloween.
On that day, people run around in costumes, engaging in trickery, sometimes debauchery. They are then rewarded with candy.
The Friday The 13th holiday, if you can call it that, has even been studied by noted psychologists like Scanlon TJ, Luben RN, Singleton N.
The three aforementioned individuals study objective was to “examine the relation between health, behaviour, and superstition surrounding Friday 13th in the United Kingdom”.
Their conclusion:
Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52%. Staying at home is recommended.
Our conclusion:
Since everyone will be staying home, there will be more people playing poker online, thus a bigger player pool with more chances to win bigger pots.
David Emery from About.com attempted to trace back the origin of Friday The 13th, referring to it as “The Devil’s Dozen”:
Although no one can say for sure when and why human beings first associated the number 13 with misfortune, the superstition is assumed to be quite old, and there exist any number of theories — most of which deserve to be treated with a healthy skepticism, please note — purporting to trace its origins to antiquity and beyond.
It has been proposed, for example, that fears surrounding the number 13 are as ancient as the act of counting. Primitive man had only his 10 fingers and two feet to represent units, this explanation goes, so he could count no higher than 12. What lay beyond that — 13 — was an impenetrable mystery to our prehistoric forebears, hence an object of superstition.
Which has an edifying ring to it, but one is left wondering: did primitive man not have toes?
So drink, eat, gamble and be merry this Friday The 13th. Just don’t stray under any ladders or pick up any stray black cats.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
