I'm sorry to hear about the incident in your locality. It's unfortunate that some individuals resort to scamming and taking advantage of others through deceptive gambling practices. It's crucial to remember that gambling should always be a personal choice, and no one should be coerced or forced into it.
Particularly, there is nothing to really be sorry about, for what op explained is not exactly gambling, but a scam strategy which unfortunately, the gullible ones fall into.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but the strategy, or should I call it a story or experience rather, shared by the op is very common here in Nigeria, I've personally encountered them on several occasions and was wise enough never to fall into their trap,
There are some who scam individuals through gambling, while there are others who use a gambling strategy to perpetrate scam, the ones explained in op fall into the second option.