The superstitious gambler Tuesday, Jul 27 2010
Online Gambling 2:49 pm
There is no other type of person more prone to superstitions than gamblers. This is especially obvious in games where players have little to no control over the outcome of the game like slots, craps and roulette.
Those superstitions are as old as the games themselves, have always existed, and will always remain, as they are next to impossible to root out, no matter what kind of reasoning is applied. Over the years many of those superstitions have transformed into habits, here is an overview of the most common ones:
Superstitions playing craps
While throwing the dice, it sometimes happens that the die falls off the craps table. Many players consider this to be an omen of bad luck. In order to break the spell, a player, who wishes to continue the game with those dice, must shout “same dice”, or finish the game with a new set of dice producing rolls that will make them lose.
Many gamblers playing craps believe that shouting or whispering seven is sufficient to roll this magic number. A variation on this is when a player believes it is bad luck to say seven, and so shouts “big red” instead to invoke the seven.
Passing the dice from one hand to the other is also considered bad luck, and a practice forbidden at many casinos. The reason for outlawing this, has nothing to do with superstition though, it is simply a measure to prevent cheaters from slipping in dice that are tampered with.
Superstitions in Roulette
The most well known superstition while playing Roulette is the belief in trends. For example, when several times in a row red has fallen, a pattern seems to be emerging. Of course Roulette is a random game of chance, so to believe in a trend emerging during a game of roulette is simply superstition. For Roulette at casinos, the land based casinos as well as online casinos; past results have no effect on future ones.
Many gamblers playing Roulette will bet on what they perceive to be their “lucky numbers”, in the belief that betting on those numbers will increase their chances of winning. The reality is the same one as with the trends superstition. No number is more or less likely to come up than any other during a game of Roulette, it is merely a game of chance and there are no such things as lucky numbers, for any player. All gamblers playing Roulette has exactly the same chances of winning as any other player in the game.
While it is easy to “debunk” the myths surrounding those casino games, the belief in superstitions as described, remains, and players holding on to that belief are as stubborn in their ways as can be. There is no rhyme or reason to their beliefs, they just need something to cling to, which makes them believe they can exercise some control over the outcome of the game, and as long as there is this need for control, there will always be superstition in playing the popular casino games.
M.A.H.