Bahaha, its not shady, like OP said, they claim its speeds up game and gets more hands in ... because well its a fact that it does.
If I am at a table where i have a perceived advantage vs my opponents I want to play the most number of hands as possible, and a shuffle machine helps with that.
In a recent event i played in Calgary (WPT Deepstacks Championship) when we got down to 9 tables we started using the machines since they had 9 tables in the room with machines. The fact that you think they could use the machines to choose who wins is just laughable.
You conspiracy theory suggest that someone actively monitoring the table and somehow telling/sending the machine information such as how many players are at the table and what position should be dealt a winning hand. and I seriously doubt those machines are fabricated with any type of wireless capabilities or any other buttons than the RED and GREEN button on top and the ON/OFF switch at the bottom which might not even exist, you might have to plug/unplug it to power it on and off.
If somehow you are correct the someone definitly wanted me to get chips because I got to the final table as Chip leader
That being said when we got to the final table it did not have a shuffle machine. but I still won