Squaring the Strange Archives: Gambling Superstitions

by | Mar 3, 2018 | Benjamin Radford, Magic and witchcraft, Psychology, Squaring the Strange | 0 comments

Here’s a look back at past episodes of Squaring the Strange that you might have missed…

Episode 11: Gambling Superstitions with Celestia

Pascual’s skeptical radar was triggered this week by a mysterious “sea monster” that washed up on an Indonesian beach. The guys unpack this whale of a story and cover carcass decomposition, experts versus “confused locals,” and the power of mysterious things to grab headlines. For today’s main topic Ben and Pascual are joined by content producer Celestia Ward, who lives in Las Vegas and has seen quite a few gambling superstitions in action. She shares a list of superstitions based on Asian ideas and folklore, some based on mob legends, and one story known to many Vegas locals that allegedly cost a major casino many millions of dollars. We look at how the gaming industry does their homework on these superstitions and other cultural factors in an effort to make gamblers from all over the world feel comfortable. Casinos seem to have missing floors–not only that frequently disappearing floor 13 but also in some cases floors that start with 4, which is a bad-luck number in China. A few of these superstitions are based on similar sounding words or a sense of feng shui, while others seem to have evolved from assuming some kind of predatory behavior or marketing tricks on the part of the house. Other legends, like the “dead man’s hand” held by Wild Bill Hickock or the bad luck imbued in fifty dollar bills, are connected to violent deaths. In the 1990s, the MGM Hotel and Casino refurbished its newly built frontage, and word around town was that it was because Asians believed entering a place “through the mouth of a lion” was very bad luck, and so the large lion-head hotel entrance had been keeping business away. The hotel itself does not admit to this, and there are hints of what seems like a cover-up, but the story has become so ingrained in Las Vegas history by residents and ex-employees that it’s taken as fact by most longtime locals.

You can listen to the episode HERE!

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