The gaming companies that make these types of games focus an unbelievable amount of energy on hooking the 10% of customers who make any in-game purchases. The big spenders can go through an absolutely absurd amount of money.
MANY of the people who spend top percentile amounts on in-game purchases are people who have had recent windfall income and have relatively low fixed financial obligations, or have recently obtained a new line of credit. This is in fact their target audience: people who will later be ashamed and horrified by how much they've frittered away. They prey on 18 year olds new to university with their first credit cards, bored stay-at-home parents who just got a small inheritance, stuff like that.
They actually develop whole "personas" based on these scenarios, the better to exploit them. These game companies have entire teams devoted to creating just the right treasure box opening animations that give people the biggest dopamine rush and likelihood of plunking down a little more money afterward.
I used to work one floor above a company that did this, and went to lunch with its employees. It was enlightening to see how they thought of customers, and absolutely ensured that I will never install a "free to play" game on my smartphone or PC.
OP is a bit more gleefully sociopathic about the whole thing than most people would be, but the truth is that it's probably a lot easier for the OP to sneer and act in control of the situation, than to confront how badly they have been conned, and how little control they actually had over the situation as it was occurring. It's very uncomfortable for people who've been trapped in a dopamine release cycle to admit to their irrationality and lack of ability to think about others while in the cycle.
Gambling would have been better. At least there's the chance of winning a real, rather than virtual, jackpot.