Sounds fine to me. I think we are talking about various possible things here;
1) Playing cards or gambling cards developed then 'happenstance' projected esoteric symbolism and spiritual tool usage on to it.
2) Esoteric symbolism and spiritual tools have been around a loooooong time and get depicted in imagery (from cave art to Mamluke cards, fortune cookies, tracing boards Plato's dialogues , etc. ), they got 'grafted' onto playing decks.
3) The process as in 2 but some realised these images could be used as in 1, for fun, irreverence or protection. (I myself have played a silly game of cards with a Tarot Deck, with silly rules that relate to peoples understanding of the cards and why some cards should beat other cards by 'esoteric value' and not number or suit alone. Its a great game and relies on the group consensus and discussion when an esoteric value is disputed. )
I haven't seen definitive historical proof either way so I assume it is a mix of everything.
PS still waiting for an answer to my post #232 ???