Superstitious Scotland: Lottery players use good luck rituals to score the big prizes

DO you have a good luck ritual when you buy a lottery ticket?

A survey by online lottery platform Jackpot.com showed nearly three in ten Scots (28%) are likely to pick up a penny for luck in the lottery, a quarter ‘touch wood’ and 15% use wishbones.

The poll also revealed that those who performed a special good luck dance claimed the highest average prize (£25,000) compared to £370 for those who pick-up a penny.

Scots are split on whether they believe their rituals help.

48% of Scots believe their rituals brought good luck, whereas 52% were less sure.

Scotland is ranked as the third most superstitious region in the UK. This makes them less skeptical than the national average (58%) but far more than Londoners, with three-fifths (60%) of those in the capital believing good luck rituals work.

The most superstitious regions:


1^st	London
2^nd	Northern Ireland
3^rd	Scotland
4^th	South East
5^th	South West
6^th	North West
7^th	Wales
8^th	Yorkshire
Joint 9^th	North East
Joint 9th	East Anglia
10^th	Midlands

Across Britain, for those who are superstitious, doing a special dance before entering the lottery has resulted in prizes of over £25,000 on average, with 7% of dancing queens claiming a whopping £100k+ windfall. This is compared to a paltry average of £41.75 for those who cross themselves for good luck.

Fingers crossed: Where do our superstitions come from?

The survey also found that a huge 61% of Brits interviewed admit to putting stock in rituals and superstitions, with 42% stating they have experienced good luck from doing so. Better still, 34% claimed to have won money following this practice.

The most effective rituals and superstitions for lottery wins are:

Doing a special dance = average win of £25,501
Tapping/clapping/clicking body part(s) a certain number of times/sequence = average win of £17,705
Saying “white rabbit” before getting out of bed on 1^st of month = average win of £948
Having a model elephant (e.g. Ganesh) = average win of £737
Throwing salt over your shoulder = average win of £648
Hanging up a horseshoe = average win of £617
Rubbing a lucky item = average win of £617
Having a black cat cross your path = average win of £552
Making a wish on a wishbone = average win of £546
Using a lucky number = average win of £518