It seems like the online discourse stalled out at, “Well Pokémon cards are legal, aren’t lootboxes basically the same thing?”. I have my own opinion on that but I never saw a consensus rebuttal form against that point.
Add to that lotteries, or pretty much anything that has random outcomes. Even if you don't gamble with cash, but something like Pokemon cards or digital items, there will always be secondary markets that let you cash out. If you want to ban these things, you'd have to ban all randomness.
Yes and no, they’re collectibles and there is a market. So not exactly the same but I see the point in a way.