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When you play bingo do you have a lucky daubber color? ...cross your fingers? ...rub your lucky charm? ...knock on wood? ...have a four-leaf clover nearby?

Recent research from the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in the UK examined the beliefs bingo players have regarding superstition and luck. It has been suggested that approximately one third of the U.K. population are superstitious.

Players were asked about the nature of bingo, and to choose whether bingo was a game of skill, luck, or chance. The majority thought that bingo was a game of luck. It was found that 81% of bingo players had at least one superstitious belief. Such beliefs included not opening an umbrella indoors, not walking under ladders, not putting new shoes on a table, touching wood, and not passing someone else on the stairs.

Professor Griffiths says "The findings show that a large percentage of players believe in superstition and luck."

It was found that having a lucky seat was prevalent amongst bingo players and the most common tactic to attempt to alter a run of bad luck was to change pens or daubbers.

Almost a quarter of the sample was superstitious or sometimes superstitious while playing bingo. This was reflected in such behaviours and beliefs as having a lucky night of the week, having a lucky friend, having a lucky mascot, sitting in the same seat for luck, believing certain numbers are lucky or unlucky, and changing pens or "daubbers" to change bad luck. Furthermore, it was found that players believed in winning and losing streaks. Also that players always or almost always read their horoscopes, and that they believed in "fate".

This was reflected in such beliefs and behaviours as having a lucky night of the week, having a lucky friend, having a lucky mascot, sitting in the same seat for good luck, believing that certain numbers are lucky or unlucky, and switching daubbers to change bad luck.

Do you have a superstition that keeps you lucky at bingo? How do you make sure you win the big jackpots? Tell us about your bingo superstitions. Email sam@onlinebingo.net with your story.

by Sam - 11/17/05

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