Since when do slot machines require tokens? I thought it's usually either cash, or a card with money loaded on to it.

Token slot machines used to be common prior to the early 2000s, but they were phased out mostly for cost reasons (minting tokens, refilling tokens, handling tokens, theft, etc). Cash ticket/cards quickly replaced them.

Some casinos still have an aisle or two of coin machines for nostalgia though. People collect these tokens, but I'm sure that hobby is on the way out since new mint is pretty rare.

It's not just obfuscation... you can only buy set amounts of V-Bucks, which not always match with the cost of the skins, etc.

Fortnite doesn't have loot boxes.

GP didn't say that Fortnite has loot boxes; they used loot boxes as a point of comparison with actual gambling.

what about those pinatas? are those still in the game? that's very much a loot box if so.

You mean the things that fall from the sky in the game? You don't pay for them, and the stuff in them only lasts for that one game.