Question of the Day - 25 December 2025

Merry Christmas!

Today's best-of QoD is one that we ran in 2022 that we remember distinctly for how much fun it was to put together. The question was about how many people who go to the casino are "under the influence" of one superstition or another. 

This is an interesting question that of course is nearly impossible to answer.

Luckily (so to speak), we found a survey that was conducted by the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a blog post earlier this year from which we can draw some statistics, if not conclusions.

The casino polled 1,200 Americans.

They found that 68% of respondents believe in luck. Of the 32% who don't, fully 31% still abide by some lucky beliefs or superstitions "just in case." Which means they're superstitious about not being superstitious!

Similarly, 87% don't believe that St. Patrick's Day is lucky, though 53% still wear green.

The most commonly held belief is in beginner's luck, the only one that garnered more than half (58%).

In terms of answering this question, 46% believe that throwing coins into a fountain is lucky, 39% knock on wood to prevent bad luck, 38% carry a lucky charm, and 25% won't walk under a ladder. So you can extrapolate that perhaps between a third and nearly half of casino-goers are actively participating in some superstition either while visiting one or before or after. 

Also for the purposes of this answer, one in 10 have a lucky color, between 15% (Thursday) and 41% (Friday, Saturday) believe in a lucky day, 60% have a lucky number (7, 3, 13, 21, and 9 are the top five), and of the 14% who wear a lucky item of clothing or accessory, 56% use lucky jewelry, 11% a lucky keychain, and 10% lucky shoes. 

Finally, as for undergarments, 12% wear lucky undies, but this question was asked specifically about dating, where "getting lucky" is a different order of magnitude. The problem with lucky underwear does get a little complicated, but this writer found an adequate solution: I wear my lucky boxers and my lucky briefs to the casino on a date.