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13 Ways to Get Lucky at the Casino

I remember reading somewhere that luck has a lot to do with being prepared or some other nonsense like that.

While I suppose it's true that some people do a great deal of work to put themselves into position to appear lucky to others, isn't it more fun to just be plain old lucky sometimes?

Why do all of that work when lady luck shines on everyone from time to time?

One of my favorite quotes of all time is by Jim Jones:

"A man's gotta make at least one bet a day, else he could be walking around lucky and never know it."

So get out there and see if you're lucky today.

Here's a list of 13 ways to try to get lucky at the casino.

Some of them are pretty easy, but others are going to require it to be your lucky day.

The list starts with an easy way to get lucky. Many casinos still give their gambling patrons free drinks. So all you have to do to luck into free drinks is find a casino that gives them out and start playing.

Of course not all lucky things turn out to be good for your bankroll.

The casinos give free drinks because when players start to get a little tipsy, or worse, the players gamble more and think less. Don't enjoy your lucky drinks too much or the luck involving your cash may go the other way.

It's also good manners to tip the cocktail waitresses who bring you the free drinks. So the lucky drinks aren't exactly free, but it's still better than paying $5 or $10 for an overpriced drink at the bar.

To get free food from the casinos you usually need to sign up for the player's club or slots club, but lucky for you it's free. Then all you need to do is stick your card in the machine or give it to the dealer when you sit down at a table game.

As you play you start earning comps and before you know it you can be eating for free.

Just like getting free drinks in the first tip, lucking into free food can come with a downside too. Most casino games are designed to take your money fairly quickly, so the free meal may come with a price tag in lost bets that's much higher than the meal is worth.

Of course if you're going to play anyway you might as well get some free stuff along the way. Just don't play and lose more than you were planning on just to get more comps.

Coupons are one of the best ways to get lucky at the casino, yet so many players ignore them or never look for them.

Coupons can range from buy one get one free deals at the buffet or other restaurant, free cocktails or appetizers, free slots play, a free ace at the blackjack table, blackjack paying two to one instead of three to two, free shows, to a host of other things.

Here are some places you can find casino coupons.

• Casino fun books
• Local papers
• Fliers handed out close to the casino or on display in the casino and neighboring hotels
• Online
• In player's club or slots club promotional mailings and emails
• Ask the casino host or at the front desk when you check in
• Coupon clubs

Even if you don't want to go looking for coupons, simply keep your eyes open and you'll probably get lucky.

If you're going to be lucky wouldn't it be nice to do so while playing a slot machine offering a big progressive jackpot?

With many progressives going over a million dollars both in land based casinos and online you have plenty of options. The odds are stacked against you, but we're talking about getting lucky so the odds don't really come into play.

Even if you don't usually play the slots, put aside a small part of your bankroll to give a progressive a try. You only have to win one big progressive jackpot to be set for life.

Keno isn't one of the most popular casino games but it offers the chance at a big win for a small investment. It's easy to find keno games with a $10,000 or more top pay out for only $1 a play.

Other than the state run lotteries, where else can you have the chance to win so much for such a small risk?

The other advantage to playing keno is it's much slower than slot machines and most other casino games. Most casinos run drawing every five to ten minutes, so for $20 you can play for an hour or two.

You can pick your own numbers or use the auto pick feature when you buy your ticket. The odds are the same either way so if you like to pick your favorite numbers then have at it. But if you just want to play and don't care which numbers are on your card you can do that too.

You can even buy a ticket for several drawing in a row so you don't have to keep buying new tickets. Most keno parlors let you pay for at least the next 10 draws. So you can buy a single ticket and have a chance to get lucky for the next hour or more.

Roulette offers a 35 to one pay out on individual numbers. This is a big pay out and the odds against you aren't anywhere near as bad as progressive slot machines and keno.

If you place a single $10 bet on a single number at the roulette table every time you visit the casino eventually you're going to win $350, and get your bet back too. Just pick your favorite number from zero to 36 or just pick one at random every time. The odds are the same either way.

Of course the other times you lose $10 but you're going to win one out of 38 times on average on an American wheel and one out of 37 times on average on a European wheel. These are much better odds than most of the games on this list and you probably waste $10 on coffee or something else every week.

Why not get paid off when you get lucky instead of just throwing your money away?

Video poker isn't one of the first games that most people think of when they think about getting lucky in the casino. Most video poker games seem like a slow way to win or lose because most of the wins and losses are small.

But many of these machines have a top pay out of 4,000 coins or more so it only takes one lucky draw to land a big win.

If you're playing a quarter a spin at max coins with a top pay out of 4,000 coins you can win $1,000 on a $1.25 spin. Playing $1 per coin you can win $4,000 for a $5 wager. Just remember you have to bet the maximum coins to win the highest pay out.

If you decide to try to get lucky playing video poker pick one of the games offering a low house edge. You don't need to give the casinos more of your money than necessary while you try to get lucky.

The best video poker games are Jacks or Better offering a pay out of nine for a full house and six for a flush and the Deuces Wild machines that have the pay table called not so ugly ducks. Look for a machine with the following pay outs. 800 - 200 - 25 - 16 - 10 - 4 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

This one may seem out of place on a post about casino luck, but aren't we all looking for the love of our life?

Casinos are filled with people from all walks of life. All of the other gamblers and all of the casino employees make up a huge pool of potential soul mates.

You might not be lucky at the slots or tables, but if you keep your eyes open you might just get lucky and find your partner for life. At least if you do they probably share some of the same interests as you. After all, they're in the casino too.

While most people claim they aren't superstitious most of us have at least a few small things that we act superstitious about. History is filled with symbols and items that we feel are lucky or provide luck.

I'm not here to judge what you think is lucky or tell you that you're crazy. It's difficult to prove if luck exists or doesn't so who am I to judge the luckiness of your item? If you're lucky enough I might want to get one too.

So take your four leaf clover, horseshoe, or other lucky trinket to the casino with you and see how you do.

The long term odds say you're going to lose, but people win in the casinos every day. So why not try your luck with a little boost from your special lucky charm?

Maybe the luck you're going to have today isn't while playing a casino game. Maybe you're going to pick up a winning lottery ticket on the way to the casino.

Imagine this scenario. You stop at the convenience store on the way to the casino and happen to pick up a lottery ticket for tonight's drawing. You stick it in your pocket and forget about it while playing the slots.

You don't have any luck at the casino, losing $500, and you feel miserable while you make your way home. As you're getting ready for bed you remember your lottery ticket and decide to check the numbers before bed and win $5,000.

Talk about luck!

Just like playing slots, the lottery is stacked against you, but people win every day. If it's your lucky day you don't want to miss out on a big win.

Sic Bo is a game using three dice and has a series of bets that offer one of the biggest returns for table games in the casino. You can bet on a triple, which is all three dice being the same number you pick.

You can bet a triple of all ones, or all twos, or threes, fours, fives, or sixes. When you get lucky and win you get paid 180 to one. This means a $10 bet pays $1,800.

Of course a triple doesn't happen very often and picking the right one when it does happen is difficult. But taking a shot every now and then won't destroy your bankroll and when you get lucky you win a nice chunk of change.

Another dice game like Sic Bo, craps only uses two dice instead of three. The craps table has two different bets that offer 30 to one pay outs. So a $10 bet pays out $300.

The craps lay out can be confusing at first, but the bets you're looking for are usually listed in the center of the table. You want the 12 bet or the two bet. You can bet on either one because they offer the same odds and pay outs.

The reason they offer such high pay outs is because if you bet on 12 the only way you win is if the dice come up both sixes. The same is true for a bet on two; both dice have to come up one.

Snake eyes, or two ones, only happens one out of every 36 rolls on average, but this means you're going to get lucky more often than playing video poker or slots.

Flipping a coin is usually a 50 / 50 proposition. So if you're playing a fair game with a fair coin in the long run you win as much as you lose.

The casino is filled with games that offer what at first looks like 50 / 50 bets, but when you start looking closer you see they have a small built in edge somewhere.

But this doesn't mean you can't take a shot at doubling your money from time to time. When you make a bet at close to 50 / 50 you don't have to get lucky as often as with other bets.

Here are a few close to 50 / 50 bets the casino offers. They all pay one to one so you double up when you win.

• Black in roulette
• Red in roulette
• Odd in roulette
• Even in roulette
• Casino war
• Craps pass bet
• Craps don't pass bet