To avoid bad luck, you should abstain from sex before going to the casino. We all know luck in love isn’t in the cards for these gamblers. For the ladies – According to Chinese superstition, luck in gambling comes more often for women during menstruation. During the difficult days, it’s so much easier to win. Whether it is carrying a lucky charm or performing some sort of ritual before or during their gambling sessions they will try a variety of things to influence lady luck to smile on them. Psychologists have done many studies into the relationship between gambling and superstitions. Certain people believe it’s bad luck to walk through the front door of a land-based casino. This belief originated in a time when there was a gigantic lion at the MGM Grand Casino entrance, forcing visitors to walk through the actual jaw of the animal on their way to the gaming floor. Some people go as far as believing that 50 dollar bills are bad luck. So much so, that they refuse being paid with them at all. Some casinos had severe problems with this crazy gambling superstition. That’s why a lot of casinos decide not to give out the 50 bills when players go to cash in their chips.
By Bill Burton
Two gamblers were talking. One turned to the other and asked, “Are you superstitious?”
His friend replied, “I used to be but then I heard it was unlucky so I stopped.”
Gamblers are probably the most superstitious people and they will do anything to improve their chances of winning. Whether it is carrying a lucky charm or performing some sort of ritual beforeor during their gambling sessions they will try a variety of things to influence lady luck to smile on them. Psychologists have done many studies into the relationship between gambling andsuperstitions.
The conclusions of several of these studies show that superstitions can develop in many gamblers and become a basis for future gambling sessions. If the player has won he looks at whattranspired during the winning session. This is where a player may decide that an article of clothing or some other activity was “responsible” for the good fortune. Likewise if a player loses hewill look to see what may have caused his misfortune. If a player has one or two losing sessions with a particular dealer, they may develop a feeling that the dealer is unlucky andunbeatable.
Not all superstitions are developed by personal observations and many gamblers just buy into the existing beliefs that have been passed down through the ages. They may choose to believe thatsomething is unlucky and avoid it as to not tempt fate. Others may test a superstition only to discover a self fulfilling a prophecy with their actions. If you think it is unlucky to sitwith your legs crossed while playing poker and you do it you may just lose because subconsciously you expect to lose. If you do lose it will only reinforce the belief.
Many gamblers have what I like to refer to as “selective amnesia.” We only remember those events that correspond to our own personal beliefs. That however does not stop us from believing someof the popular gambling superstitions. The following are a few of the most common gambling superstitions.
Popular Gambling Superstitions
Many gamblers feel that it is unlucky to enter a casino through the main entrance. Years ago the MGM in Las Vegas was themed after the MGM film studios and the main entrance was through themouth of the large MGM lion. Many superstitious players would not enter the casino by going into the mouth of the lion. They considered it a double curse to walk into the mouth of the beastalong with the fact that it was the main entrance to the casino.
Fifty dollar bills are unlucky. Many gamblers will not accept being paid with a $50 bill. They are called frogs. There are several casinos I have visited that do not give out $50 from the cagewhen players cash in the chips. Many of the casinos that do use $50 bill often find that gamblers will refuse them as payment when they are cashing in their chips. Some people also regard thetwo dollar bill as unlucky and this might explain why the numerous attempts to bring them back into general circulation have failed.
Never count your money while you are playing is a common belief. Kenny Rogers even immortalized this concept in his song the Gambler when he sang. “You never count your money when you sittingat the table, there’ll be time of enough for counting when the dealings done.”
That brings up another superstition that singing or whistling while you are gambling is bad luck.
If someone is whistling past the graveyard, they are trying to remain cheerful in difficult circumstances so perhaps this has carried over into the thinking that it should not be done whilegambling.
You should wear red clothing while gambling is an Asian superstition that has been popular in the film Kung Fu Mahjong. Many players have a favorite color that they will wear while theygamble.
Don’t cross your legs while playing or you will “cross out your good luck”. (This could explain why they make those seats so close to the slot machines. I never have room to cross my legseven if I was not afraid it would bring me bad luck.)
Harmless Fun
Even though we claim not to be, most of us have one or two superstitions we subscribe to while gambling. Eighty percent of the gamblers who responded to a survey said that they believedin superstitions or carried out some sort of lucky ritual while gambling. As long as you don’t let your superstitions control you, believing in something that will bring you good luck canactually be beneficial. If you feel lucky you will be happy and have a more enjoyable time while you play.
Until Next time remember:
Luck comes and goes.....Knowledge Stays Forever.
Bill Burton is is the author of “1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets” and 'Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold'em' available online at www.billburton.com. He an instructor for Golden TouchCraps: www.thecrapsclub.com
Have you ever been to a casino and lost a little bit of money? Well, don’t feel too bad about it, because these ten people have such bad luck, that some of them have lost millions, over the strangest of things…
10 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
This story is about gambling ‘whale’ Real name Fouad al-Zayat (FYI: A Casino whale is people who spend literally millions of pounds every week gambling and don’t flutter an eyelid at it). And on this single night, Fouad al-Zayat had lost over £2 million and blamed the dealer, then sued the casino for not having a different dealer on hand to change his luck. Now that is bad luck indeed.
9 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
Lots of people have gambling loss stories to tell, but none bigger than Harry Watanabe who lost a massive $127 Million fortune! Lucky he did indeed get gambling addiction help thanks to a family member. I would like to say here that most respectful casinos would keep a very keen eye on his spending and would have suggested he stopped several times.
8 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
Every Christmas a member of a local village goes around collecting the syndicate money for the national lottery in Spain. In this one year, they won $950 million and it was divided out to each member of the village, except one person because the syndicate collector forgot to know on his door!
7 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
Imagine winning a $1,200 jackpot on a night where you had to spend just $40! A good night indeed. Except when Mirna Valenzuela turned up to collect her winnings she was refused the cash and deported back to Mexico because her passport had run out and she was not allowed to gamble in the first place.
6 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
Poor Mr Andrew Whittaker. After winning a mind-blowing $315 million on the lottery he then started to receive such bad luck from car break in’s to assault and car crashes, that in the end, he told reporters that he wished he had torn the winning ticket up.
5 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
This is David and Edwina Nylan who thought they had won the lottery jackpot, but sadly when they rang Camelot (the lottery operators) to claim their prize, it seemed they didn’t have sufficient funds in their bank account when the draw took place and the ticket was never purchased. All for the sake of a single pound.
4 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
Poor Billie Bob Harrell Jr. After winning $31 million on the lotto, he didn’t want to keep all the money in the bank and so lent money to anyone and everyone under a handshake and trust arrangement. Sadly in just two years, he was skint and hardly anyone had returned the money he lent them. A sad story indeed.
3 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
This is Joe McGuire and he was just 2 meters away from winning £10 after predicting the winner of 5 horse races. Sadly the bet was for 6 of them and the last horse comes 2nd just a few meters behind the winner. Now that it bad luck at it’s finest.
2 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
This is Tonda Lynn Dickerson who once worked at a waffle house. Sadly for the rest of the employees, she cashed in the winning ticket from their syndicate winnings and didn’t pay them anything. But that is where her luck ran out because the IRS sued her for unpaid taxes and she ended up back at the same job penniless!
1 – Original Source Used: >> Click Here <<
Bad Luck Pops
This is Lara Griffiths and she won £1.8 million on the national lottery…hooray! He and her partner at the time bought a home for almost the same amount of money and lived off the income their jobs gave them. Sadly a freak fire gutted their dream home and with it every penny of their winnings due to not having any house insurance.