Inside Asian Gaming

What’s in a Number? Desmond Lam explains Chinese gaming numerology L ike many cultures, Chinese people give special meanings to the numbers around them. Each number from 0 to 9 can be combined to represent certain things. However, China is a big and diverse country. Traditionally, therewere sevenmajor Chinese dialects. Now, that has expanded to at least 14 subgroups. Despite such a diverse groups of dialects in China, the number 4 is almost universally considered ‘bad’ and the number 8 is considered ‘good’. To Chinese people, good numbers are created when they sound good—conversely, bad numbers are created when they sound bad. The Cantonese are a major dialect group among Chinese people. They are found in the Guangdong region, some parts of Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau. Many visitors to Macau’s casinos are Cantonese speaking and come from the Guangdong region. Likewise, many Chinese immigrants in countries including America, Canada, Europe and Australia originated from these regions and often brought with them their unique southern Chinese dialect, cultural values and cuisine. The following is a simple translation of what each number can potentially mean when spoken in Cantonese: ‘2’—easy; ‘3’— alive; ‘4’—die or dead; ‘5’—no; ‘6’—path/ way; ‘8’—prosper; and ‘9’—a long time. The numbers 0, 1 and 7 are not included, but when combined and spoken, they can have symbolic meanings for Chinese people. The ways the numbers are put together have significant results and implications. For example: ‘13’—definitely survive/live; ‘14’—definitelydie;‘18’—certainlyprosper, ‘24’—easy to die, ‘23’—easy to survive, ‘58’—won’t prosper, and ‘98’—prosper for a long time. Additionally, ‘104’—definitely die, ‘108’—definitely prosper, ‘138’— prosper in one’s lifetime, ‘168’—prosper all the way, ‘328’—easily prosper when alive; and ‘664’—dead in every way. When four digits are combined: ‘1,028’—definitely easy to prosper; ‘1,058’—definitely will not prosper; ‘1,308’—definitely prosper in one’s lifetime; ‘1,328’—easy to prosper in one’s lifetime; and’ 9,413’—slim chance of surviving. Past research has shown that Chinese people place more than symbolic meanings to these numbers. They are willing to pay extra for auspicious house numbers, vehicle license plates and telephone numbers. In recent years, the car license plate AW6666 (roughly translated as ‘smooth all the way’) was bought for US$34,000 in Guangzhou, while AC6688 (meaning ‘prosperity in every way’) fetched US$10,000. That’s why Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel opened on August 28th (08/28), while the Beijing Olympics opened on 08/08/2008 at 8pm. The number 4 is taken out of baccarat tables in Macau, and some Chinese hotels avoid putting rooms on their 4th floor. One needs to note that the combination of these numbers is often more important than the meaning of individual numbers. Moreover, there are other ‘good’ numbers besides ‘8’. My research found that 3 and 6 can be more popular numbers than 8 among Chinese during betting and purchasing in some circumstances. Desmond Lam is a visiting senior research fellow at the School of Marketing, University of South Australia. Visit www.DesmondL.com 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1000 10000 Feature In the Cantonese dialect, the number ‘8’ and the word ‘prosper’ sound very similar No death floors here