Gamblers are a superstitious bunch
17:09 08 September 2005
NewScientist.com news service
John Pickrell, Dublin
Gamblers are significantly more superstitious and place more importance on so-called "lucky events" than the larger population, according to new research.
Over 80% of UK bingo players surveyed were generally superstitious - some attributing lucky seats, lucky friends and lucky nights of the week to gambling success.
Just one-third of the larger UK population are thought to be superstitious - the most commonly reported behaviours being: avoiding walking under ladders, touching wood for good luck and throwing salt over shoulders.
Superstition is a belief that a given action can bring good luck or bad luck even when there are no rational grounds for that belief, explains Mark Griffiths, professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Illusory correlations
Griffiths surveyed 412 bingo players to find that 4% reported having a lucky friend, 5% a lucky night of the week, 6% a lucky mascot (such as a rabbit's foot), 13% lucky and unlucky numbers and 21% a lucky seat they would prefer to sit in.
Amazingly, 29% reported that they believed changing to a lucky bingo pen, or "dobber", was a common strategy to reverse a losing streak. These beliefs are based on "illusory correlations" between random events and gambling success, says Griffiths.
Griffiths also found that heavy spending gamblers – those who spent more than £20 in a bingo session – where those most likely to be superstitious. This could be because they have more at stake, he adds.
Unlucky words
Irish fishermen with most at stake financially are the most likely to believe in fishing-related superstitions, notes Bairbre Ni Fhloinn of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Surprisingly, she found that younger, better-educated professional fishermen working aboard state-of-the-art trawlers were more likely to be superstitious than older, more traditional fishermen. This might be because the modern fishermen have invested more and because they have more to lose, and adhering to the superstitions certainly could not hurt.
Saying certain words or phrases aboard a vessel is associated with bad luck, for example, saying the word “pig” or “fox” or speaking of red-headed women.
Other studies have found that, as expected, people who regard themselves as lucky are no more or less successful at gambling in a lottery than those who regard themselves as unlucky.
Griffith's revealed his findings on Thursday at the British Association Festival of Science in Dublin, Ireland.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7969
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Weblinks
Betting Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/nbs/spec/betting_research_unit/
BA Festival of Science
http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/Events/FestivalofScience/
