People believe what they want to believe and we shouldn’t ever be dismissive of the beliefs of others. Superstitious beliefs can materialise from our experiences or they can be passed down to us from family or friends. No doubt a team of scientists could easily go about disproving many of the beliefs or practices we hold and judge to be helpful in being successful or lucky, but they will still prevail.
Many of the superstitious rituals that are meant to increase or change luck when gambling is obsolete with the move to playing casino games online. You can’t kiss the dice for luck when playing online, but there are a number of superstitious beliefs that people still follow while playing casino games on their phones, tablets or desktop.
Whistling
Many cultures have different beliefs about whistling, and while residents of India will associate the practice with evil characters, others will whistle to show disapproval, enthusiasm or support. Yet, there are a significant number of places in the world that considers whistling, particularly when indoors, a harbinger of bad luck.
Compared to the online casinos of the early 90s, games now have vastly improved music and the developers employ plenty of catchy tunes you might find yourself whistling along to. This is particularly true of slots such as Millionaire Rush, as it uses the appealing theme music from the hit show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? A look at the options for online casino betting at Paddy Power also reveals a host of unique game show experiences that each has its own catchy tune that might compel you to whistle along while you’re playing.
“Bluff for the win” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Biker Jun
Counting
The old adage was never to count your money or chips when playing a casino game. As well as seen as bad luck it was also simply bad casino etiquette to count how much you’ve won before you’ve finished playing. Playing online means that you don’t need to count as the amount is displayed on the screen for you to see, but people still believe in the old ways. This results in gamers altering the game settings, simply not looking or placing something sticky on their screen to ensure they don’t know how much they have until they’ve finished playing.
Crossing
An odd superstition that many might not be aware of is to avoid crossing your legs while sitting at the table playing a casino game. Most people are familiar with the gesture of crossed fingers to signify wishes for good luck, but it turns out crossed legs have the opposite effect. It has been suggested by numerous chiropractors that leg crossing can lead to bad posture, but the origin of crossed legs resulting in bad luck is unknown. In some countries, it is considered rude to cross your legs when sitting in a chair, so maybe just keep your legs apart and luck will come calling.
“Fingers Crossed” (CC BY 2.0) by Clint__Budd
Good luck charms
Even former President Barack Obama had lucky items they would hold dear from time to time. A good luck charm can really be anything from an item of clothing to a lucky rabbit’s foot. Often gamblers would wear distinctive jewellery that they believed to be lucky only when heading out for a night at the casino. Playing online means that we can still have our lucky charms and we don’t need to be coy about it. Some people keep a lucky image on the back of their phone and touch it for luck while others will have a lucky figurine or statuette close by whenever they are playing roulette, poker, blackjack or slots. The privacy afforded when playing online means no one is going to give you odd looks when you’re kissing, touching or talking to your lucky mascot as you play to win.
While Taylor Swift has a lucky number 13 and others will have their own superstitions, it’s good to know that the move online hasn’t deterred people from following from having their casino superstitions and you really never know what will bring you luck in the future.