David G. Schwartz is a bit fascinated by casino carpets. He's been snapping pictures of them from coast to coast (or casino to casino) and in his blog Casino Carpet: The Quest & Conundrum has theorized they encourage gambling. Makes sense. I cannot imagine a casino making an arbitrary decision about anything, much less carpet selection. I wonder how many people actually pay much attention to the carpet as they are gambling or otherwise partaking in all the other entertainment going on in casinos? And the point is, they probably aren't. Schwartz seems to indicate it is subliminal. All part of the entire ambiance. He even did academic research on casinos in "an attempt to answer the question of how you get people to spend hours in smoke-filled, garishly-decorated places, losing money–and liking it." Not intending to be disparaging to casinos—he used to work for them and is still fascinated by every aspect.
When I'm at IMEX America in Vegas next month, I just may see how effective those carpets really are.