Lucky Number Seven? 7 Surprising Superstitions and Myths Gamblers Believe
For Some, Believing is Everything
Superstitions often influence people’s behavior and are deeply ingrained cultural stories and beliefs. From cursed jackpots to spectral encounters, the gambling realm is rich with fascinating stories and superstitions that go beyond the bets placed. For gamblers trying to navigate the complicated world of luck and odds, they frequently turn to the supernatural to make sense of things, and here are some great examples of that.
Famous Superstitions & Myths
1. Crossing Your Legs
If you are an online gambler, you wouldn’t expect that the way you sit would impact the results of your wagers. However, the next time you’re gambling at one of the Best US Casinos, you may want to avoid sitting cross-legged. In some cultures, it is believed that crossing one's legs can “cross out” one's good luck or disrupt the flow of positive energy. Some people may also notice a cold streak where they have sat cross-legged and associate it with bad luck. This interesting quirk is just one of the unique rituals and practices that shape the online gambling experience.
2. Curse of the Megabucks Slot Machine
The Megabucks slot machine is the world's progressive slot linked across a wide area. This meant that the jackpots became huge quickly, but unfortunately, it hasn’t been all roses for the winners of this slot. A number of winners of big Megabucks jackpots found themselves in very unfortunate circumstances after their big win.
In March 2000, Cynthia Jay-Brennan won a life-changing sum of just under $35 million on the Megabucks jackpot. However, just six weeks later, Cynthia was paralyzed from the chest down and her sister was killed in a tragic car accident with a drunk driver.
Although just a rumor, in 2003 a 25-year-old man won the Megabucks jackpot, but he remained anonymous after his win and died just a few months later. It is said he possibly died of a drug overdose or was killed in a street skirmish, but none of these rumors have been confirmed.
With one confirmed heartbreaking story and many other rumors surrounding the Megabucks slot machine, it is understandable that winning the jackpot has an aura of disaster. Whether you believe in this kind of superstition or not, it will surely be in the back of your mind if you ever play the Megabucks slot.
3. Dead Man's Hand in Poker
The Dead Man’s hand is a five-card poker hand made up of aces and eights, but more specifically the aces and eights of spades and clubs. The origin of this story reaches back all the way to 1876, to the era of the Wild West. The name Dead Man’s Hand comes from James 4. Butler Hickock, who was a soldier and gunfighter known for his gambling. He was famously killed during a poker game while holding the now-infamous hand, Aces and 8s.
As legend has it, Hickock had played poker with a patron of the local saloon, Jack McCall, and had won quite a lot of money from him. Jack came to the saloon the next day, and to get his revenge, he shot Hickock in the back of the head during a poker game. When the surrounding players looked at Hickock’s cards, it was told that he had aces and eights of both black suits.
In the modern day, the specific suits of the cards in the Dead Man's Hand can vary, as the story has been passed down through history with some variations. However, the hand two pairs of aces and eights often receives the deadly nickname from poker players around the world.
4. The Lucky Number 7
The number seven has religious and cultural significance in many parts of the world. In the Bible, the world was built in six days and on the seventh God rested. When making the pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslim people walk around the Kaaba seven times. Unlike numbers like 13 or 4 that are considered unlucky in many cultures, seven has many significant and positive events and ideas associated with it.
When designing slots, casinos want them to look appealing and appear lucky to entice people to play on them. Using symbols on slots like horse shoes, 4-leaf clovers and diamonds that all have lucky connotations give people a good feeling about the machine. This is the same logic behind using the number seven. With the positive cultural significance that it has, people have a positive association with it and machines seem luckier as a result.
5. The Gambler's Fallacy
The gambler’s fallacy is the mistaken belief that previous outcomes in gambling can influence future outcomes. This fallacy arises from a misunderstanding of probability in random events, as each event is independent and past outcomes do not affect future ones. This can lead gamblers to make misguided decisions on their gambling habits and understanding when to stop.
The psychological basis for this comes from people’s tendencies to seek patterns and make sense of randomness. Because of these tendencies, people often try to find order in gambling, even though it is inherently random.
The gambler’s fallacy can have a considerable impact on the way that people gamble. If a person repeatedly loses on a specific bet, they might start to bet even more on that outcome, thinking that it's bound to happen soon. Or, if they've been winning consistently, they might reduce their bets, assuming their luck will eventually turn.
6. The Casino Front Door
In some Asian cultures, it is believed that entering through the front door of a casino could transfer the bad luck of the people leaving on to you. People who believe in this superstition will enter through the rear or side entrances to avoid this bad luck.
This belief is so powerful that in 1998, MGM Casino in Las Vegas decided to change their famous lion entrance because many customers felt that the door exuded bad luck. The Hippodrome casino in London even put in a Chinatown entrance to their casino, designed with feng shui in mind. This unique superstition may have you second guessing which entrance you take the next time you visit a casino.
7. Rituals of Lucky Charms
Depending on the culture, there are a ton of lucky charms, trinkets, animals, clothing and more that people often look to for a boost in luck. For Western cultures, the four-leaf clover that gained popularity through St. Patrick’s Day is associated with luck because of its rarity in nature. And in many Asian countries, the elephant is a powerful symbol. In Feng Shui, an elephant with its trunk up is believed to bring luck, energy, and prosperity.
For gamblers, the most popular lucky charm is probably the lucky coin. Whether it’s a lucky penny or a coin with some sentimental value, people typically bring them to casinos to get an extra boost of luck. Alternatively, a cat’s eye gem is a gemstone that looks like a cat’s eye and is believed to bring back lost wealth according to Indian culture. For this reason, many gamblers keep one in their pocket or wear a piece of cat’s eye gemstone jewelry for luck and for fashion.
Believe it, Or Not?
Some of these superstitions are scary, and others may be something you want to try the next time you gamble. Gambling is a very superstitious hobby, and people will go to great lengths to get an edge, or to avoid bad luck. Perhaps, the next time you gamble at a casino, you will consider a lucky charm, think about which entrance you take, or wonder about some supernatural powers that are at work with luck and chance.
- B.E. Delmer, Gambling911.com
