The superstition that a clockwise rotation of left shoes prior to putting on right shoes before putting on trousers helps win lots and lots of money has never been documented anywhere.
But there are other superstitions, both silly and serious, that are widely held in casinos around the world. Many of them are based in old tradition and even folklore while others have emerged more recently.
Merriam-Webster defines a superstition as “a false belief in supernatural causation” but most gambling superstitions are really just rituals or good luck charms, many borrowed from various religions and mythologies.
Gulfport Casinos You Need to Check Out This YearDo they work? Do they help you win at blackjack or roulette or slots? Frankly, probably not. But what does it cost you to tap a slot machine three times while muttering ‘Niall’s got talent! Niall’s got tallent! NIALL’S GOT TALENT!” before you spin the reels? Nothing, right?
Gamblers and their Superstitions
Gambling and superstition have always walked hand in hand. We’ve all heard stories about historically significant events being preceded by unusual occurrences.
One man swears he wouldn’t be alive today if his troops hadn’t broken into a nearby monastery the night before a crucial battle and liberated a statue of the Virgin Mary which they strapped into the back seat of an armoured personnel carrier and used to repel numerous enemy charges.
We’ve also all heard of athletes with pre-game routines so exacting that deviation from said routine results in a fine or, depending on the severity of the infraction, physical violence.
And then there are the gamblers, who will do anything for a lucky charm. Here’s a small sample of some of the more prevalent gambling superstitions from around the world.
Free Online Casino Games You Can Play Right Now1. Carry underwear
When in Rome… particularly if you’re a famous athlete or entertainer being honested by your tour manager for misconduct, it’s often advisable to make a quick getaway and head for the local casinos, where you can usually remain anonymous behind a mound of chips.
That’s how Michael Jordan came to be in Rome’s legendary Casino de la Valle one night in the mid-1990s. His presence went largely unnoticed until it was time for him to make a rapid departure from the table after hitting a big winner.
As he got up to leave he tossed a stack of 1,000 Euro chips (just over $US1,200) onto the table and made for the door. Unfortunately for Him Airness, he’d forgotten the one cardinal rule of Italian casinos: when cashing out you are required to wait while some low-level functionary counts out your chips and gives you vouchers for cash.
Bye, bye chips.
Jordan took one look at the creepy chip courier and took off running, with the Italian casino employees in pursuit. MJ was fast once upon a time, but these guys had experience on their side and eventually caught him in the men’s room, where he’d stopped to change into yoga pants and a singlet.
He finally got his cash, but never spoke of the incident. The moral of this story? When gambling in Rome (or any foreign city), find out in advance what the local casino customs are. And carry a clean pair of undies. You might need them.
2. Always Wear Your Luckiest Underwear
Speaking of undies, a lot of gamblers – male and female – like to wear their luckiest underwear to the casino. Since very few people are willing to don one pair of undershorts/panties for an entire day let alone several days in a row, this gives lucky undies multiple spins at the wheel of fortune.
Incidentally, women’s underwear – bras and panties – are popular gambling accessories, especially among superstitious gamblers. Used bra liners, worn panties and even dirty socks are less common, but not unprecedented, gambling accessories.
It’s all in the mind, folks. If wearing your grandmother’s granny-panties under your Armani suit makes you feel lucky, go for it. Just make sure you wash them now and again.
Must-Take Live Dealer Games Besides Blackjack, Roulette & Poker3. Carry a Horse Shoe – Pointy Side Out
The horse shoe is one of the oldest and most widespread of all lucky charms, going back centuries – perhaps millennia. It’s been suggested that Ulysses carried a horseshoe when he went to sack Troy and that’s why the Trojan horse scheme failed.
St. Dubravka holds a horse shoe – barrel side out.
For centuries farmers hung horse shoes above stable doors to keep the devil out (they didn’t want him stepping on their horses, one supposes). For similar reasons some casino patrons like to carry a horse shoe – pointy end out, please.
Even some churches contain horse shoes in their architecture. We’re not making this up. St. Dubravka Church in Chicago prominently displays a horse shoe above its main entrance and church officials maintain that this is not in any way ironic.
A variation on the horse shoe theme involves painting a horseshoe on your car bumper, pointy side up. Good luck finding another superstitious gambler who doesn’t scoff at your quaint little charm.
4. Carry a Rabbit’s Foot
This is a classic lucky charm commonly found in old-time three card Monte games and other street corner schemes. Like the horse shoe, the rabbit’s foot has deep roots in European folklore and was brought to the New World by settlers seeking a fresh start.
Three card monte hustler.
barstool casino illinoisIf your only exposure to this talisman comes via Pepe Le Pew cartoons you should know that properly prepared – simmered in vodka, say, or otherwise appropriately processed – a rabbit’s foot is supposed to bestow good luck on its bearer.
Of course, using a dead bunny’s foot to try and win money takes things to rather morbid extreme – but then again, so does gambling.
5. Blow on Dice & Slot Machines
Blowing on dice before rolling is such a universal practice that casinos rarely bat an eye. To be effective, though, the player must somehow imbue the dice with his or her luck simply by blowing on them.
Since blowing on the dice adds moisture to the surface it can be counterproductive, turning the dice faces into slippery bananas that are more likely to roll away or careen off the table than stop where you want them to.
Amazing VIP Casino Experiences for High Rollers OnlineSimilarly, some slots players blow on the machine’s various buttons before pulling them, either to blow good luck on to the mechanism or – more likely – to blow whatever bad mojo might be clinging to the metal case.
6. Tap, Tap, Tap
See that bank of nickel, time slot machines over there? The old guy bouncing up and down in front of them, tapping his fingers lightly on the glass? He’s not asking the machines to lower their windows; he’s trying to activate the magic slot machine spirit.
Niall has talent!
At one time Niagara Falls was thought to be home to a fierce water spirit named Onguiaah, who could be appeased by offering her tobacco. In a pinch you could always chant a few lines from an old Limp Bizkit song. Whatever works.
Another common variant on the tapping theme involves tapping the side of the slot machine. This goes back to a time when rock-solid mechanical timers ruled the slot machine world. A well-designed slot machine could be timed within a few fractions of a second.
Tapping the machine, some believe, throws off the timing sensors and causes the coins to pour forth like silver from a heavenly hill. Modern slot machines, of course, use random number generators, which are not thrown off by a casual rap on the case.
Then again, maybe they are. The people who design slot machines aren’t telling.
7. Cross Your Fingers
Crossing your fingers is a relatively mild bit of finger work that can be practised discreetly at the poker table or while making a critical bet at the roulette wheel. Whether the game is played with cards, a wheel or dice, crossing your fingers is a good way to conceal your true intentions.
“Oh, this little pile of chips? Just a tiny fraction of my life savings? No biggie.”
Not to be dismissed as a mere luck ritual, crossing your fingers – also known as sign of the horns – has become an important hand gesture in heavy metal music.
Variations on the sign of the horns have been observed in various cultures around the world. In Scandinavia, for example, holding up the little finger, ring finger and pinky is supposed to keep witches and other malevolent creatures at bay.
8. Knock on Wood
Suppose you’ve been having lousy luck at the tables, hitting losing roll after losing roll of the craps table or watching in horror as the dealer hits 20 blackjacks in a row. Then, all of a sudden, something good happens. You look around furtively to make sure no one is looking and whisper “knock on wood,” followed by a perfunctory tapping of the nearest available piece of lignin.
Is this superstition just a holdover from simpler times?
Casinos That Are Abandoned But Will Blow Your Mind -Pic&DescriptionIncidentally, the proper phrase is “touch wood,” at least if you live in the UK. The first known use of the phrase comes from 1725, when it appeared in A Collection of English Proverbs by John Ray and Samuel Pearce: “Knock on the plank as you say, ‘All’s well.'”
Planks were commonly used as makeshift substitutes for wood when superstition demanded a quick tap. The expression was later changed to “touch wood” to reflect the fact that fewer people walk around with planks handy.
In Italy it’s customary to touch a crucifix instead of wood. In Germany they tap irons. The Irish like doorframes. Whatever floats your boat. Or shouldn’t, as the case may be.
WSOP New York Satellites - How to Qualify for ,000 Event9. Carry a Photo of SOMEBODY
Carrying a photo of SOMEBODY into the casino for good luck is a common practice among gamblers who couldn’t care less about mum’s ugly mug shot. Who or what do they carry with them? Why, themselves, of course.
Selfies are big business in the modern world and every mirror in every casino is covered with dozens – sometimes hundreds – of selfies that various individuals have taken and affixed to the mirror glass with spit, lipstick or some other adhesive substance readily at hand.
These selfies are meant to be good luck charms, although it’s hard to see how gazing fondly into your own eyes can possibly affect the whims of Lady Luck. Maybe it’s the lipstick.
Or maybe we’re missing something here. Doesn’t Dr Suess say something about the places you’re likely to be … ? Never mind.
10. Bet with Your Birthday Numbers
This isn’t really a superstition, since nobody actually believes that their birthday has magical numerological powers that can overcome the laws of probability and make them rich. But many people do feel a certain kinship with their birth date – especially if it was the date on their last winning ticket.
Roulette is the obvious choice for birthday betting since those 0s through 36 form a neat progression that’s easy to remember. Less obtrusive forms of birthday betting take place at the blackjack and baccarat tables and even at the sports book, where astute observers will notice occasional bettors with multiple tickets featuring different combinations of numbers adding up to 12, 23 or 36 when the calendar turns.
By the way, if your birthday numbers appear on the roulette wheel and some socko looking fellow leaning over the railing directly in front of you bets on all six numbers – including those covered by your chips – and wins big, don’t be alarmed. That sort of thing happens every day in casinos around the world. Honest.
11. Don’t Wash Clothing for Days
Some gamblers eschew hygiene in the name of good luck. We won’t go into detail here but suffice to say that this superstition involves clothing that has been previously imbued with the gambler’s personal odour. Washing such clothing would be tantamount to flushing away wads of Benjamins.
12. Eat Lucky Foods
Before sitting down at the gaming tables many gamblers stop off at the buffet line to stock up on various foods long believed to be lucky. Pork products – particularly pigs’ knuckles and pig’s feet – are highly prized by some, as are various types of beans.
Simple Texas Hold'em Poker Tips for Beginners - PokerlistingsLily the Witch of la Grange, Texas.
There’s an old Southern saying, for example, that declared “Eat a pound of lima beans before a trip and you’ll be sure to come home.” In China bettors might chow down on rice cakes before visiting the track, figuring that their complex shape will ensure complexity in race outcomes.
Back in the States the late Lily Ramirez – better known as Lily the Witch of la Grange, Texas – maintained that a hearty bowl of red beans and Spanish rice would put gamblers in tune with the cosmos and help them win at the racetrack.
No word on whether Lily advised her customers to brush and floss after dinner.
13. Use the Same Craps Table
Craps players tend to be a loyal bunch, drifting from table to table like nomads in search of the perfect shooter – the one whose rolls seem to be influenced by magical forces working for the good of the player rather than the house.
Once such shooter has been identified craps players will cluster around that table for hours, throwing their money down for pass line bets and come bets in ever-larger quantities.
Tips on How to Win at Online Casinos - Increase Your ChancesIf that shooter goes on a long run everybody at the table is a genius and a natural philanthropist, generously sharing his or her good fortune with the whole wide world. If the shooter sevens out everyone promptly packs up and moves on – without exchanging goodbyes or so much as a wave.
14. Choose Certain Chips Colours
Casino chips come in a wide variety of colours – typically ranging from white and green to dark, menacing shades of brown and purple. Each colour corresponds to a specific value, usually announced publicly via a series of raised numerals on the chip’s concave face.
legit online casinosMany gamblers pay no attention to the colours of the chips they receive from the dealer and just grab a handful at random. Others, however, have strong preferences when it comes to chip colours and will gently separate the various denominations into a roughly ordered hierarchy of red, white and blue (with green chips considered somewhat radioactive).
Why the preference for certain chip colours? Often it’s just a matter of habit, reinforced over many long hours at the tables. White chips, being the lightest in colour, are often chosen because they are easiest to count and handle. Green chips, being the most valuable, are often shunned because they stand out conspicuously from the rest of the chip array.
Whatever the reason, changing chip denominations partway through a session can play havoc with a player’s calculations – or so the players insist. Dealers, who have to keep track of all those chips anyway, seldom comment on this aspect of chip psychology.
15. Don’t Leave the Casino
Most casinos are built on Indian reservations or other sovereign territory where local, state and federal laws don’t apply. This presents unique opportunities for gamblers who have outstanding warrants or simply wish to avoid paying taxes on large sums of money.
Seriously, though, some gamblers believe that once they’ve started winning they should stay right where they are until the tide has turned and the casino has extracted the maximum allowable commission.
We’re not talking comped rooms and three square meals a day here. Some winners will forego food, sleep and bodily relief for 24 hours, 36 hours or longer, collapsing into a chair and nodding vaguely whenever the cocktail waitress asks if another drink is in order.
Casino Queen Sportsbook Preview - Top Betting TipsWe’ve seen it happen and so, no doubt, have you. Does it work? Well, if staying in the casino helps you maintain your focus and concentration we suppose it could work. On the other hand, we’ve seen similarly focused gamblers lose everything and then some.
So, what’s the biggest superstition in gambling?
Gambler’s fallacy. Also known as the fallacy fallacy.
Everything we’ve talked about here stems from the idea that external factors can influence the outcome of a game of chance. That much is obviously true. It’s what keeps gamblers coming back for more.
The problem arises when a gambler starts to base his or her decisions on events that have already occurred – particularly when those events stretch back over long periods of time, as they frequently do with roulette track bets.
Here’s a roulette wheel. You’ll note that it has a white sector to indicate when 0 (or 00) has landed in the previous four spins:
- Red = 0 (or 00) has landed
- Black = 0 (or 00) did NOT land
Now, if you watched this wheel for several hundred spins you no doubt would see long runs of red and black sectors. But does that mean you can reliably predict that if four consecutive red sections are shown above the wheel, a black section is more likely to appear on the next spin?
No. It does not.
You can read more about the gambler’s fallacy – and why it’s the biggest gambling superstition of them all – right here.
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New Zealand’s Biggest Gambling Superstitions
