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Superstitious Attitudes Around the World
Whether it’s for an important exam coming up, a job interview, or a first date, the most common phrase that people offer you for support is “good luck!”
At EmuCasino, this made us curious as to what is considered good or bad luck around the world so we went on the hunt for data which could tell us more.
We analysed recent data to pinpoint different attitudes towards common superstitions in New Zealand, the UK, and US.
Are New Zealanders superstitious?
We analysed Google search trends for superstition-related searches and discovered some interesting results.
Average monthly Google searches for the phrase ‘lucky numbers’ has increased in the past few months by 52% from 210 in February to 320 in May – could Kiwis be looking to play the lottery and are looking for the best numbers to pick?
Searches for the word ‘superstitions’ itself was also on the increase by almost 50% In December 2022, there was an average of 590 searches for the term and by May, this had increased to 880 searches.
What are current attitudes to common superstitions?
Blowing on dice
YouGov’s data on Brits and their attitudes toward superstitions revealed that of 1,073 males that were surveyed, 76% don’t believe that blowing on dice brings good luck. Of the 1,139 females that were surveyed, 68% of them also didn’t consider blowing on dice as something that brings luck.
From a US perspective, YouGov US data shows that 73% of the 1,000 American adults surveyed also agreed that blowing on dice doesn’t bring good luck… roll on lucky 6’s!
Dates and numbers
The number 666 is commonly considered bad luck throughout the world due to it being referred to in the bible as “the number of the beast” and associations with the devil. When using an online casino, the type of numbers that are presented to you are important in making a gambling decision so we took a look at what YouGov’s data reveals about the UK’s attitude towards the triple digit number.
76% of men who were surveyed didn’t believe that the number 666 brings bad luck and 67% of women surveyed agreed that they didn’t consider the number to be bad luck.
With the number 13, 78% of men surveyed didn’t consider it to be bad luck and neither did 72% of women. 8% of men and 10% of women stated that they didn’t know how they felt about the number.
Wedding superstitions
YouGov shows that the UK holds interesting attitudes to superstitions surrounding weddings. Of the 1,048 males that were surveyed, 72% of them didn’t think it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day before the ceremony. This is compared to 59% of females who also didn’t believe that it would bring bad luck.
When it comes to a bride wearing ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue’, the data revealed a further split between males and females and if they thought it would bring good luck. Just 15% of males thought that this tradition brings good luck compared to 34% of women.
To see how your luck stands up using some of the superstitions we mentioned above, try your hand at our online slots to see if you can really win big without blowing on the dice.
