This kinda sounds like the old tradition of dicing for double or nothing over purchases (though whether it's only a tradition in novels I don't actually know) -

This kinda sounds like the old tradition of dicing for double or nothing over purchases (though whether it's only a tradition in novels I don't actually know) - except with the addition of people who can't afford the original purchase price as extra suckers to help add to the house advantage/profit margin. Not sure I'm entirely fond of the idea but it just seems like yet another borderline form of gambling to me, and no morally worse than the rest.