The cost per spin is the thing that makes it gambling. Without a wager, it is not gambling.
Watching a horse race is not gambling. Placing a wager on a horse race is gambling.
In Luck Be a Landlord, players do not place wagers. There is no gambling mechanic. Not even a virtual wager for play money.
The "landlord" aka casino is constantly requiring that you pay `X credits within N spins` or else it's game over. That is just moving when the subtraction of player's credits happens from every spin to every few spins. It's effectively X/N credits per spin, per "rent" notice. That's a core game mechanic.
You realize you're trying to argue that this is appropriate for children, where the whole game is they pretend to be a gambling addict trying to make their ever-increasing rent payments (which children don't have) by taking spins at a video slot machine.
It has every aspect of the slot machines I was playing just 2 weekends ago at casinos in Reno, but without credits being deducted from my balance per spin. Instead, in this game, you must pay lump sums from your credit balance to the Landlord after N spins. It's thinly disguised gambling with fake credits, but with a "Gamble now, pay later" twist.
EDIT: my mistake, it appears from the video you also pay one credit per spin, in addition to the rent.
So other than the gambling part, it is a lot like slot machines.
Interesting!
How many of the slot machines that you played in Reno have a feature where you get enough cultists to summon an eldritch horror? That's normal late game stuff for Luck Be a Landlord.
I'm not sure what you're trying to do with this thread, but I do not think you're having a good-faith discussion about something you're curious about.