Ojuice5001

I thought it might be interesting to have a poll about the correlations between gambling, religion, and superstition. After all, I believe in both religious and superstitious ideas about the relations between the gods and chance events. So do these relations have enough subjective popularity or objective validity to affect how likely people are to gamble?

I probably need to define my terms. The religious can be defined simply as those who define themselves that way. What is superstition? The only people who think it's synonymous with religion are those who believe in neither. I often follow popular usage in using it to mean the belief that supernatural factors, other than the will of the gods, are an influence on luck. It does not, of course, follow from this definition that superstition is false, so the believers in lucky talismans are to be found using this usage as much as anyone else. By gambling, I mean any regular participation in games of chance that are played for money. So you're a gambler if you play cards, bingo, visit casinos and racetracks, etc., at least once a month. Or if you play lottery games, the most mainstream gambling of all, at least once a week.

Ronin

I am not religious and I do not gamble.

Sigma

I get hooked on the 2p machines, if that's considered gambling.

theturtlemoves

I'm not religious, I don't gamble regularly, and on the few occasions that I have, I've had both good and bad luck.

Scorpion

Umm. How do you calculate the correlations between those three if you set up the poll like this?

Not religious though, I used to have a mild addiction all through 90's (I realized I didn't control my playing completely, but managed it enough to play only what I could afford), then went absolutist for a few years, now I'm playing occasionally.

I've played enough to see I'm not lucky nor unlucky. In the long run there's no room for either, the house wins its calculated percentage and that's it.

-S-

pkurilla

I don't gamble regularly--but then again, I was born and raised in Las Vegas. I know the odds. LOL

Still, the other night, DH and I each put $3 in the Megabucks machine, hoping for a $17 million payout.

Still hoping....

Gavinicus

I like to gamble (blackjack, craps and poker mostly), but am entirely rational about the irrationality of betting against the house. Some people play with a loss limit. I calculate my statistical losses and play until my statstical loss is hit--regardless of my status at the time.

Poll answers: not religious, gamble regularly, and I have had both good and bad luck (luck defined as a temporary deviation from a statistically likely outcome).

Echo

I'm not religious, and I gamble. Specifically, I play the ponies.

I also stink at it.

jdlongmire

I'm religious, I don't gamble regularly, and on the few occasions that I have, I've had both good and bad luck.

I don't really believe in luck, but probability outcomes weren't in the poll.

- pax -

-JD

Stumpjumper

This is definitely a poll for me. I gamble. Blackjack and Poker. Good at poker, bad at blackjack. I generally have bad luck, but I'm a good bluffer.