That's what I was thinking, I collect sports cards as well and wondering if they could be next. Stickers have that service you mentioned above, but cards these days don't. Panini wouldn't be able to sell you a 1/1 card that someone already owns, so each pack you open is variable in its value unlike sticker.To offer an example of physical collecting. As far as I remember from my childhood, Panini cards all had the same value, there was even a message that gave you the odds of getting all cards and so you could see the amount of money you'd need to spend to get all cards.
Furthermore, you could order missing stickers straight from Panini, the value was the same as a single card in a pack and they allowed you to order up to ten. Meaning there's a limit to how much you would need to spend to complete your collection.
In this sense it was granted an exception to the gambling code, even though it is still technically considered gambling.
When thinking of potential ways EA could get around this, offering users in restricted countries the ability to redeem a physical card was my first thought.