I’m a total gambling innocent, but there’s billboards for casinos all over the place
around here. One I saw recently said something like “Feel the Magic” with 777 on a
slot machine.
I think 777 is a winning…uh…spin?..pull? but does anyone know why 7’s were
chosen in the first place? Lots of casinos have 777 in their phone numbers or
advertising, so it seems like a common trope in gambling.
Is there any esoteric connection with the number 777? The “Feel the Magic” billboard
has me thinking maybe it’s an occult thing (occult meaning hidden, not witches).
7-7-7 is a common winning combination on slot machines. The machines will usually have a number of different icons (lemons, cherries, “BAR”, etc.) on the wheels, and the number 7 is often among the symbols. I assume it’s a 7 rather than, say, a 3 because 7 has historically been considered a lucky number. Why it’s considered lucky would be another question entirely.
7 is a significant number in craps, and it just bled over to the slots. In craps, if you roll a seven on your first roll, it’s a winner; if you roll it after that, you lose.
Craps is with two dice, right? (I’m really dumb at this.) So it started in craps - is it a winner only if you get a six and a one or will a three and a four work?
And then they stuck in on slot machines. OK. So where does the “Magic” come in?
Guess I’ll go google for a while and see if I can come up with any “whys” for 7 being a lucky number.
7 is one of the symbolic biblical numbers, like 40 years for a generation. Just look at some of the places 7 pops up. In fact, I suggest reading the linked articles. As to why seven is such an important number, I’m not sure I buy the explanations about things like 3+4=7.
Bottom line, 7 is a lucky number and has got lots of symbolism around the world. If you’re playing three-line slots, there will often be two or three different colors of 7, with different combinations paying different amounts. So a line of “any 7s” will pay less than a line of a single color of 7s, but how much each of those will pay will depend on the number of each type on the wheel. Also, some games will have a wild symbol, and then three wilds pay the top amount.
If you’re betting pass, of course. Betting don’t pass means that getting a seven on the come-out roll is a loss and getting a seven before the established point is a win. Read this if you want to learn how to shoot craps.
Seven, of course, is the number with the highest probability of any single roll, 1 in 6. Of course, that doesn’t mean that a seven will pop up every six rolls. Heck, I’ve been in games where the shooter took something like 15 throws to finally hit the point. I really don’t think that the idea that 7 went from craps to the slots is right; seven is a lucky number after all, and you know gamblers. Big believers in luck and superstition, after all
WhyNot, if you want to learn more about craps, do a search on the message board, as we’ve discussed odds and strategies several times. In fact, there’s a thread on the first page of GQ right now that started off being about doing a Martingale playing blackjack that has now turned into a discussion between Ellis Dee and some others about whether or not taking the odds is a good bet.
Sociologists have discovered what is called the ‘blue-seven phenomenon’ where the majority of people choose blue and seven as their favorite color and number.
Casinos know all about this. They know all about the psychological and sociological factors that encourage gambling. They know how much people aren’t able to guage risk and probability assessment (and then they make it even harder with twists on popular games that make it seem like you’ll win more, but just the opposite is true). They know how liquor impares judgment. They know that ‘comping’ gamblers will net more income (go ahead and use a room that they’re currently not renting to gain customer loyalty and increase gambling). The vagaries of comping, like gambling itself, is powerful variable ratio reinforcement of operant conditioning.
And most importantly, the casinos know all about people’s superstitions. (Since many people can’t grasp the statistics of probability, they wind up guaging their ability to win as being determined by superstitious beliefs.)
Casinos know that a slot machine which wins on three sixes is more likely to be defaced than played. They also know that a slot machine with three sevens as the big jackpot winner will draw in players because…
"Hey, look at that! Three sevens win!! Seven is my lucky number!!!"