I guess that makes sense. But you're still gambling the price of a postage stamp to get your "free" game piece. Where I live, a postage stamp costs about a third of the price of a bottle of Coke. I don't know how much Tater Tots cost. Or what the price of tea is in China. If you ask me, it's all a sinister plot hatched by the postal service.
Still, I don't think it should count as "gambling" if you actually get something back for your money. If me and five other people each throw ten dollars in a pot, then roll a d6, and the money goes to whoever's number comes up, that's gambling. If I wager $1.05 on a bottle of Coke, I've got 20 ounces of Coke to show for it. Two liters if there's a sale. And then, on top of what I'd normally pay, I may or may not have a prize of some sort. Sure, you might get some compulsive types who'll buy enough Coke to flood the Sahara in search of a winning gamepiece, but as long as there's any gambling at all (state lottery, Vegas casinos, etc.) these people are going to have problems, and they need some kind of professional help, regardless of who they're losing their money to.
Oh well. Not like it affects my life, anyway.
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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!