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I don't think it's so clear.

You can place your bet with knowledge, despite not being able to influence the result.

See also: poker, insider stock trading, etc.

Edit: Given that they have bots stealing the items, I don't think this is actually gambling--it's actually just entirely wasting money.

If it worked as-presented, I would say there's a marginal amount of skill involved, which would have its effect magnified over time, as happens in poker.

That's not clear to me. By that logic, any game in which players took one turn each, sequentially, would be gambling. The fact that you can no longer control the outcome does not make it gambling. You need to have a nondeterministic component that is exogenous to the players.

Or is it placing a bet when you skillfully deduce no one will be betting in the next 15 seconds?

Doesn't matter if it's skillful really. Both sportsbetting and poker clearly are (there are many long-term winners) and that doesn't stop them being gambling.