Get Lucky – a Guide to Superstitions Around the World

We all know that gambling is purely down to luck and nothing else, but most of us when it comes to playing games such as roulette tend to sway towards some numbers and keep away from others. The number ‘7’ is generally considered lucky all around the world … or is it? How much do you know about gambling superstitions throughout the rest of the world? For example, did you know that in Asian countries it is the number ‘8’ that is generally considered lucky, and not ‘7’?

Here are a few gambling superstitions that you might be surprised to learn about.

The Ghost with the Sweet Tooth

When you sit down to play a few hands of blackjack, you, of course, need to have everything you require to play. Got your chips? Check. Got your drink? Check. Got your sugar? Huh?

This gambling superstition is truly bizarre. It is a belief in China that the amount of luck bestowed on players at gaming tables in casinos is under the command of a baby ghost. If you upset the baby ghost, then you will have a run of bad luck, but if you please the baby ghost, then nothing but good fortune will smile upon you.

So, how do you make a baby ghost happy? That’s easy, as there’s nothing that a baby ghost loves more than something sweet. When you see a Chinese player sit down at a blackjack table for the first time, you might see them ‘feeding’ the table’s baby ghost with a few granules of sugar.

Red is the Colour of Luck in Asia

If you want to get lucky in many Asian countries, then you will need to be wearing the colour red. People in China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. love the colour red, as red has long been associated with prosperity and therefore good fortune. If you see casino players in an Asian casino, you can bet your bottom dollar that they are wearing red somewhere, even if it is just their underwear.

Her is a nice video that explains gambling superstitions in the Asian culture.

The most popular foreign football teams in Asia are also those that wear red – think Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Famously, when Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan took over Welsh football team Cardiff City, he changed the club’s home shirt which had blue since their formation in 1899 to red. This only last two seasons though as replica shirt sales collapsed through the floor!

Don’t Give Me No Fifty-Dollar Bill!

This is a bizarre one, but like a lot of bizarre things, it originates in America. Did you know what when cashing in their chips at a casino, American casino players will not accept fifty-dollar bills? They will take hundreds and twenties, and other denominations, but not fifties.

Indeed, the ‘bad luck bill’ idea stretches across most aspects of American life, and not just gambling. The fifty-dollar bill is considered unlucky in the United States and is actually known as a frog. This bad luck motif is thought to stretch back to the 1920s when the idea came about the gangsters would stuff $50 bills into the mouths of the fellow hoodlums they’d just murdered.

Wear Your Penis with Pride!

No man, of course, would consider visiting a casino without his trusty penis tied around his neck! Wait … WTF?

This is true … in casinos in Thailand. If you want to guarantee yourself good luck then the one item you should not leave home without is your ‘Palad Khik’, which literally translates as ‘honourable surrogate penis’. We kid you not. A ‘Palad Khik’ is a fertility amulet that is, genuinely, shaped like a penis.

Just like real penises, Palad Khiks come in all shapes and sizes, and the bigger the Palad Khik, the … well, you can work that out for yourself.

As a bonus, members of the opposite sex will find you more attractive if you have a penis dangling around your neck, as is to be expected. Don’t let all the attention put you off your casino game playing, though!

Dress Smartly … Unless you’re in India!

Most people smarten themselves up when they go to a real-world casino … but you might want to avoid certain days in India if you are fussy about the kind of company you keep, and the cleanliness of them.

Gamblers in India think it’s unlucky to shave on Tuesdays, wash your hair on Thursdays or cut your nails on Tuesdays or Saturdays. If you head to a casino in, say, Mumbai on a Tuesday, expect to see plenty of your fellow punters wearing a day-old beard and cleaning the muck out from beneath their too-long fingernails!