Thursday, July 2nd 2020
British Lawmakers: "If a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated"
A U.K. House of Lords empowered committee called for video games with loot crates (aka loot boxes) to be classified as games of chance and "immediately" brought under the country's stringent gambling regulations under the Gambling Act 2005. "If a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated as gambling," the committee says in its report, cited by the BBC. "The government must act immediately to bring loot boxes within the remit of gambling legislation and regulation," stated one of its members.
The report has sparked a debate in the U.K. about whether the Gambling Act 2005 is up to the task when dealing with contemporary and new forms of gambling, especially one with potentially billions of Pounds in market size. Lord Michael Grade, chair of the committee, in an interview with the BBC highlighted how several other countries already identify loot crates as a form of gambling as "they can see the dangers" which is teaching "kids to gamble." He argued that the Gambling Act can regulate video game loot crates without needing any legislation in the way of amendments.
Source:
BBC
The report has sparked a debate in the U.K. about whether the Gambling Act 2005 is up to the task when dealing with contemporary and new forms of gambling, especially one with potentially billions of Pounds in market size. Lord Michael Grade, chair of the committee, in an interview with the BBC highlighted how several other countries already identify loot crates as a form of gambling as "they can see the dangers" which is teaching "kids to gamble." He argued that the Gambling Act can regulate video game loot crates without needing any legislation in the way of amendments.
21 Comments on British Lawmakers: "If a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated"
Many said titles have no compromises and no loot boxes, not even dlc content, playd a lot of titles like it lately.
Even EA games managed to do it, granted it was a good 60$ game but Fallen Order didn't have any purchaseable content
Seriously, this is long overdue. But once again, governments worldwide are way too slow to act while the greedy executives and shareholders take players for a ride.
IAP's arent an issue in general, but free games where all content is paywalled is literally just gambling in another form (play the game for X levels, have fun, PAY TO WIN NOW HAHAHA)
These mechanics don't just exist in a game in a vacuum, the game itself will often be built around them. Eg, if a game has the 'option' of paying to unlock x via a "Time Saver" IAP, the more likely it is that the core mechanics of the game will be made to be significantly more artificially grindy than normal (how it would be designed without IAP's) for those who unlock it without paying. It's always been a total myth that "If I don't buy them, they don't affect me", and the number of people complaining about how tediously grindy modern games have become is no accident.
At least in Australia, children are not liable for spending on their parents CC's in gaming.
But back to the topic of gambling in games, loot boxes are a known form of gambling as the chance of getting what you want is limited, so multiple attempts may have to be made before you get what you were after, as opposed to buying a set item in an in game store.