The hottest trend in sports cards is essentially a legalized online lottery masked as a hobby. It reflects a broader shift in collectibles, and many other industries, away from their original purpose and towards a quick, lottery style payout designed to deliver a dopamine hit.

This is the structure: Step 1 (lottery): Pay $100 for online lottery ticket. Get back $50-1000 (expected value=$100) minus 10% fee. Step 2 (collecting?): Option to avoid fee by exchanging payout for random, overpriced sports card. Pay shipping fee if you want physical possession.