The Strangest Gambling Superstitions in the World
There are tons of different superstitions and lucky charms that people have when it comes to gambling in different parts of the world, and we'll explore some of them here. At the end of the blog post we will reveal how you can share you story and win yourself $500 of flight vouchers in the process!
When it comes to casino games and other types of gambling, you'll find a tremendous volume of different superstitions. These players typically figure that it's a win-win proposition to be superstitious: If it works, then they benefit, and if it doesn't work, then they're no worse off than when they began. In what follows, we'll check out some of the strangest gambling superstitions in the world.
The Doomswitch and Boomswitch
Online poker players developed a sort of running joke called the "boomswitch" somewhere in the range of 2004 to 2006. The idea behind this gag was that the poker site could turn on your "boomswitch" at any moment to give you a great run of cards in a tournament or cash game. Likewise, the dreaded "doomswitch" was the opposite of this and would cause you to run into a number of situations designed to throw your game off and make you lose several buy-ins in a row. While these were industry-based inside jokes to begin with, some people started taking it very seriously, and many of those people still do today.
Books and Shoulders
If you're gambling with someone from China, there are two things you shouldn't do. First, don't ever touch their shoulders. Second, don't ever talk about books. Their word for book sounds much like their word for losing, and this type of rhyming structure is taken very seriously by many Chinese people (it's also the reason why eight is lucky there since it rhymes with their word for fortune). Generally speaking, touching shoulders is considered rude behavior in general, making it especially bad when gambling, something that Westerners are most likely not familiar with.
Dirty Clothes
One superstition that a lot of different places across the world has will tell you that wearing an article of dirty clothing will help you at the games. It's hard to imagine what the source of this idea was originally, but the story is that it'll help to ward off bad luck. While dirty socks might not be too bad, we don't think we can recommend wearing a dirty shirt or pants, especially if you're going to be sitting next to other people. However, if their comfort is less important to you than the chance of getting an extra edge, then by all means stink it up.
Fowl Play
Our final weird superstition that we're going to look at is popular in South Africa. It's believed by many there that smoking the dried out brains of certain types of vultures will help to give you the ability to predict the results of contests like the lottery, sports matches, and casino games.
Whatever your superstition or lucky charm – share your picture with us over on our competition page and win yourself $500 of flight vouchers!
