That being said, locking meaningful content to lootboxes on a game that retails at 60 USD is pure fucking evil and the consumer backlash is completely justified. Nobody should support a studio that does this shit.

TCGs have always had a strong secondary market; the intent of opening packs isn't to get the cards you want, it's to get them cheaper than buying them from a reseller and, if you're into that, selling them yourself at a profit.
With digital things, you don't have the option, and are slaved to RNG to get what you want.
That's the difference.
Also that you can't sell the unwanted digital goods you get from opening packs. Because they're digital. And therefore pretty goddamn valueless.

seek to establish disclosure requirements, including probability rates, for publishers of games that feature loot box mechanics. Furthermore, any digital or physical copies of games that feature loot boxes would be labelled as follows: "Warning: contains in-game purchases and gambling-like mechanisms which may be harmful or addictive".

aim to prohibit the sale of video games containing randomised rewards, or a virtual item that can be redeemed to receive a randomised reward, to consumers under the age of 21.

"I grew up playing games my whole life," said Lee in Hawaii Tribune Herald report. "I've watched firsthand the evolution of the industry from one that seeks to create new things to one that's begun to exploit people, especially children, to maximize profit."