Get Lucky!

We all know some people who seem to get all the breaks. When playing online bingo, we sometimes see the same players winning time after time, and occasionally game after game, as if they were somehow on a lucky streak that ensured their success. We also see some players who lose day after day, even in games where they declare "1 to go" several minutes before anyone else. In these cases it can seem as if that one ball deliberately avoids being selected, just to spite the player.

In everyday conversation we describe the first group of players as being "lucky", and the second group of players as "unlucky". But is there really any such thing as luck and, if there is, can we do anything to get more of it?

These were questions explored by Professor Richard Wiseman, who wrote his best-selling book The Luck Factor after conducting extensive research. Wiseman is not a superstitious chap by any means, and normally enjoys explaining the rather mundane psychological explanations for apparently "psychic" and "supernatural" events, but when it comes to luck he does conclude that there is such a thing.

However, luck isn't something that is bestowed on us by some outside force (or a bingo hall employee scattering lucky dust around the place). Instead, luck is a state of mind, an attitude that any of us can develop in order to increase our perception of the opportunities around us, increase our willingness to take chances from time to time and thereby experience more of those "happy coincidences" than we did previously.

Professor Wiseman says that luck is a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy (for example, we expect to do well at a certain task and we therefore try harder without realising it, making success more likely) and that there are four simple tips we can follow in order to become luckier in life:

1. Trust your instincts, because they are usually right.

2. Be willing to try new things and break free from your usual routine.

3. Spend some time every day remembering things that went well for you in the past.

4. Imagine yourself being lucky and succeeding.

Whilst online bingo will still be a game of chance even after you’ve started applying the above tips, you may find that you enjoy the game more. And yes, you may even find yourself winning more often too!