SUPERSTITIOUS ATTITUDE OF A GAMBLER

Superstitions are inseparable part of horse racing. race goer never parts with money on race days. If he has to make any payment, he would rather do it on a non-race day because he believes that giving out money on race day will bring bad luck and he may end up parting with all his money at the end of the day! If a cat crosses the path of a gambler, he would rather wait till some other person has crossed over so that the bad luck of the cat crossing does not affect him! A horse shoe, especially the steel shoe, worn by an all black horse is considered a lucky charm and you can see the horse shoe being nailed in front of lot of houses. This belief is not exclusive to race goers. In India, horse has been a sign of power and prosperity and in the Hindu mythologies, horse is a recurring motif.Many gamblers believe that sharing information may bring them bad luck and thus they develop negative traits of deceitfulness that makes them lie about their intentions. Some of the biggest race horse owners in the country, however, philanthropic they may be outside the race course, are not so generous when it comes to sharing information on a possible winner.Gamblers have greater trust in factors other than merit and they believe that playing a horse of a particular number can bring them luck which the psychologists put as cognitive error. If a gambler has been successful having started the day eating food at a particular restaurant, he may repeat the same practice till his luck runs out! Indians are big believers in superstitions but Chinese being bigger gamblers, have a huge list of dos and don`ts before they venture out to gamble. They will never enter the gambling venue from the main entrance. And during gambling as well, they are governed by certain self imposed guidelines. The funniest among this is wearing red underwear while gambling!nother superstition is to avoid meeting a particular person whom they think brings bad luck or shaking hands lest their good luck is passed on. Some others eat before a bet and after a bet as well. Some believe only in numerology and some others in astrology, mathematical factors.If a race goer has won on a consistent basis during a day, he would look at what transpired during the day and try to duplicate the same process the next day. I have often see a punter change places each race in order to improve his ``vaastu``. One of the leading trainers in Bangalore lost six bets in England in succession but was lucky with the seventh one. To the surprise of his colleague who was with him, he took out the ticket from his stockings! The trainer said that he had lost when he had put the ticket in his pockets and hence searched for a new place to keep the ticket for change of luck! Gambling and superstition are inseparable.