When the AP ran this story a couple of weeks ago (http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Unshuffled-cards-a-costly-headache-for-NJ-casinos-3801123.php http://www

When the AP ran this story a couple of weeks ago (http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Unshuffled-cards-a-costly-headache-for-NJ-casinos-3801123.php http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Unshuffled-cards-a-cos...), I thought it was hilarious because casinos do extra work at the baccarat and mini-baccarat tables to encourage exactly this kind superstitious magical betting. And then they have the gall to act all surprised when it works! In Vegas, they'll often distribute little pads of paper and pencils you can use to take notes on past hands, and mini-baccarat tables often have electronic signs showing the player/banker/tie outcome of several past hands. (This is funny because the game is memory-less.) The folks who manage the games must have discovered that when they encouraged players to bet superstitiously, players stayed for longer and bet more. How deliciously ironic for a casino to encourage people to try to find patterns and bet on them, and then lose and sue after they finding a pattern that worked!