You lose whatever you bet. The more you're willing to lose, the higher your chance of winning the item.
Correct, it's how site like these work. There's a ton of them out there for fiat.
Think of it more as entertainment than shopping. Not really gambling or a lotter since there is no random chance involved. I've heard some people have come up with fairly interesting strategies to consistently "beat the house".
Sounds a bit fishy?
What's fishy? Not trying to hide what the site is or how it works at all.
Thanks for the note on the verification email, I'll look into it.