I have to say that if they didn't do that V1, even the timing of V2 (if v1 was done during v2 time) could have been too late. When v2 came out, trend of NFT started to go down, the only reason their V2 was so much liked was the fact that they did v1 and was loved so much.
So, they did the timing perfectly, they couldn't calculate it better. I mean these things take time so they probably started to plan it a lot before that. This is the problem with crypto, something gets so popular, and you try to do a great job of it, and if you give like 1 year production period, then you are going to be way too late when you release it, so you need to be quick.
I do not think that it would have mattered. They are super famous already as a casino and if they did an NFT at any point, even if the first one was today, I am sure that they would have been able to sell it all. Maybe it wouldn't be in a single minute like the V1 version, but at the same time I believe that they would have sold it for lesser and overtime and would still make it work.
The best thing that this collection has that we are going to see them connected to a famous casino and that will make it a very profitable business for anyone to hold. Plus it has profits as well, it has utility, so if you bought it and gamble a lot, you are going to earn it back anyway.