I think the answer is in the question. They're not playing to win money. They're playing because whatever rewards that have been engineered into the game suck them in. Social aspects, FOMO, "winning" at a game, etc.
Different people crave different rewards. Some people may care more about the financial reward, but they're out playing some other gambling game that caters to them.
That's key because it shows how money isn't the only reward that can encourage unhealthy gambling behavior. It sounds like the victims express feeling of a sunk cost, knowing that if they don't maintain their status with additional purchases, all the previous money spent will have been wasted. If it took them $10k to get there, why throw it all away (and disappoint their "club") if you can keep it rolling for another $100?
Aren't they referring to the person designing the addictive game, not the players? Justifying any methods by starting with "let's put ethics aside" is incredibly callous.
Edit: Based on partitioned's later comments, it looks like I was probably wrong about their intent. Either way, it is certainly a crass comment.
It's a poem advocating empathy, people, not an edict on border control policy. Are people really so sensitive that they can't handle being reminded that other people may think differently than them?
I grant you, it is a confusing time line, but let me clear this up. Cree sold its consumer lighting products business (think LED light bulbs with "Cree" stamped on them) to Ideal Industries. Then, as the company expanded into other semiconductor areas, they rebranded as Wolfspeed. Finally, Wolfspeed sold the LED components division (think tiny LED chips that go into products) to SGH, effectively spinning it off as a new company called "Cree-LED".
Certainly it is a significant contribution, but I have to admit that my mental image when reading someone dicovered an ancient sword is of someone digging it out of the ground.
This seems to stretch the meaning of "discovered." Hey look, I just discovered a dinosaur at the natural history museum! It's older than they thought it was!
Different people crave different rewards. Some people may care more about the financial reward, but they're out playing some other gambling game that caters to them.