Dear Mark,
I witnessed something amusing recently in a casino,
someone sprinkling salt all over a slot machine. Did
she really think this would bring her luck? Edith C.
By sprinkling salt, this superstitious gambler was trying
to make the machine pay off by using salt’s association
with money. It comes from ancient times when workers
were paid with salt, called “salarium.” We
know that word today as salary. Now my own personal
feelings about (a) luck and (b) superstition. When it
comes to the goddess “Lady Luck,” I’m
an atheist. Smart wagers bring luck! I have a saying,
Edith, if you will: “The smarter you play, the
luckier you’ll be.”
Salt
to me has more value disguising my own cooking, not
showering a machine with it.
Dear Mark,
In all your years in the casino industry, I bet you
never heard of this type of superstitious gambling.
My brother-in-law brings a small computer to his hotel
room that has a software program that tracks a person’s
biorhythms. He then proceeds to ask dealers their
birth dates, runs back up to his hotel room, then
plots the dealers’ emotional, physical and mental
state. Then he goes back to the casino and only plays
on a dealer’s table if the software shows a dealer
in a down cycle. Beat that! James M.
You would think, James,
that after 18 years in the business I would have
seen enough to have seen too much. Then you come
along with your brother-in-law’s nincompoop
gambling theories.
My personal favorite was when a lady playing on
my blackjack game pulled out a Ken doll dressed
in black and whites that even had a bow tie duplicating
the one I was wearing. After every hand I (the house)
won, she inserted straight pins into my likeness
and started a voodoo conversation with the doll.
Here is proof that evolution CAN devolve.
I believe that your brother-in-law, and others who
gamble with insane beliefs in the paranormal, are
a few Fruit Loops shy of a full bowl.
