Posted By:
Marc S.Simple economics.
If the pack was worth the anticipated value of its contents...all packs would be opened, and unopened packs would not exist.
From the "lottery" perspective, you can quantify more precisely anticipated possibilities of outcomes. About 10 years ago, someone paid less than $2,000 for a 1952 Topps pack. Opened it up, Andy Pafko graded PSA 10 GEM MINT, card sells for $83,870. Much like the modern card market -- there is an inherent lottery aspect to this.
Finally -- you can perhaps compare it to vintage wine. Even most bottles of vintage Porto mature over 40-60 years...but unopened bottles from 80-150 years ago may fetch premium prices despite the fact that the contents inside are not very palatable any longer. As such, collectors pay for the rarity and the story..as opposed to the simple sum of contents.
At the end of the day, it's the free market....