Soothsayer or simpleton?

Many moons ago, when I had a life, I found myself in a casino late one night playing roulette. The table was full and there were a quite few people standing around waiting for a gap. This respectable looking man, quite young and definitely sober, pushed his way to the table and said to everyone playing 'The next ball will land on green double zero'. We all looked at him in a 'who asked you' kind of way and he repeated 'Green, double zero. Trust me.' One guy on the table said 'cheers buddy' and put a chip on double zero, more, I thought, because everyone had ignored this fella and he felt obliged. The croupier spun the wheel. 'Told you so' said the young man as the ball came to rest where he had predicted, and he walked off. Cue lots of people looking bewildered, a croupier looking pissed off and mildly embarrassed and one lucky punter getting a pile of chips pushed towards him. I've often thought of that incident, and wondered if he had some insider knowledge, or was he a Jedi, or more likely, was it a guess (a hell of a guess though). Mostly, I wonder why the devil I didn't chase after him and see if he could have made me a millionaire.

I thought of this incident this morning when I arrived at work. The security guard said 'Coventry are going to draw Man United in the 4th round of the cup. Trust me'. I've just checked the draw and we are playing either Hull or Middlesborough.