1. A system for handling and verifying sets of playing cards, the system comprising: an automatic card shuffler, comprising: a card-shuffling mechanism configured to shuffle a set of playing cards; a shuffler processor programmed to randomly select a set symbol; and a printing device for applying the same randomly selected set symbol to each card in the set of playing cards to uniquely identify the set of playing cards prior to removal of the set of playing cards from the automatic card shuffler; and a shoe comprising: a receptacle for receiving the set of playing cards from the automatic card shuffler; a set symbol reader for reading each card of the set of playing cards for a presence and identity of a set symbol; and a shoe processor configured to receive a signal from the shuffler processor indicating the randomly selected set symbol and configured to verify that each card of the set of playing cards includes a set symbol matching the randomly selected set symbol.