I don't feel this is in-game currency used to bypass gambling laws though. There is no potential to gain money after a bet- you are simply gaining a mystery item. Similar processes (where you spend real money to get a random item from a list) are perfectly legal and not considered gambling.

I agree that the psycological effects can be similar in some people, but honestly I don't really have much sympathy for those who can blow a load of cash on videogame cosmetic items and perhaps don't get the particular cosmetic item that they wanted. It's quite a different scenario than those that suffer from real gambling addictions where they literally can lose everything in chase of winning back their losses.

With the videogame items it's a sunk cost no matter what.