The 10 Luckiest and Unluckiest towns in the UK

Released on: March 23, 2009, 8:37 am
Author: Virgin Games
Industry: Entertainment

Virgin Casino recently performed some analysis on their data which for those of slightly superstitious disposition, may well take some advice and take a trip to St.Albans - according to data from Virgin Games, it's the luckiest place in the whole of the UK . Residents of Sutton, Brighton and Luton also needn't get worried about Friday 13th as they follow second and third place respectively in the luck stakes!

Virgin Games analysed over 100,000,000 separate wagers, based purely on chance, placed over the past three years in order to create a map of the UK’s ‘luckspots’- handy for those trying to protect themselves from bad luck on Friday 13th. The unluckiest spots in the UK were also highlighted with Belfast, Perth and Newbury topping the list - residents in these areas would be advised to keep hold of a horseshoe or rabbit’s foot for the duration of Friday 13th.

“Friday 13th falls three times in 2009, so we thought it would be interesting to see if whether some regions in the UK are luckier than others”, said Simon Burridge, CEO of Virgin Games. “We matched the success of our huge database of players against the UK’s postcodes, and were surprised at just how much variation there was between regions. It’s just a bit of fun, of course - but if I was at all superstitious I’d be heading to St. Albans this Friday 13th.”

So for those who worry when they walk under ladders, smash mirrors or spill salt perhaps they should be considering moving to St. Albans. Not only has the suburban district been crowned one of the best places to live in the UK - it was recently selected as the ‘ Mayfair’ spot on the British Cities version of Monopoly - its residents can also consider themselves the luckiest, over four times more likely to win than residents living in Belfast. In St. Albans, a bet of £1 can expect to see an average profit of 83p - compared to a loss of 60p if the same wager was made over the Irish Sea in Belfast.

So is there really such a thing as good or bad luck? Of a kind, says behavioural psychologist Donna Dawson: “It’s interesting to consider the behaviour that can lead to bad or good luck and how that could manifest regionally across the UK. Luck is based on a number of factors; skill, chance but of course also mindset. A negative outlook versus a positive one can have a really big effect on luck; if enough people in one area have one or the other outlook towards life, this could very well create a snowball effect geographically.”

Top 10 luckiest towns in the UK

1. St. Albans
2. Sutton
3. Brighton
4. Luton
5. City of Manchester
6. South West London (SW postcodes)
7. Torquay
8. Bolton
9. Harrow
10. Stevenage

Top 10 unluckiest towns in the UK

1. Belfast
2. Perth
3. Newport
4. Salisbury
5. Motherwell
6. Darlington
7. Dudley
8. Aberdeen
9. Doncaster
10. Colchester

So the next time you feel like you want to Play Poker Online, or Bingo online you might want to take a trip away from those unlucky places and head into one of those luckier towns...

Contact Details: Virgin Games Customer Support Team
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