As far as I am concerned Feng Shui is just another superstition. I would even go as far as comparing it to people who suffer from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) who, in many cases, have a need for order and to follow certain patterns of behaviour before doing an activity.
The effectiveness of Feng Shui on gambling can be easily verified with a study. Grab a bunch of people, note who follows Feng Shui, who doesn't and track their gambling performance. On a large enough scale I'm sure there will be no difference between the two groups. Otherwise the casinos would have gone bankrupt

Many animal are considered sacred and people do believe that it matters.
However those who believe in number, but in both case - people do keep these elements in consideration.