Are Loot Boxes Gambling? UK House Of Commons Says Yes

Think loot boxes are just for kids? Well, a new recommendation by the UK House of Commons might change that.

In a report by the DCMS (Digital Culture Media Sports) committee, members of parliament recommend that loot boxes should be regulated as gambling, which would bar sales to children.

The recommendation comes as part of a months-long investigation by the DCMS committee into "immersive and addictive" technology. Their findings concluded that because the goods "won" in loot boxes could be exchanged for money that they could "facilitate profiting from problem gamblers."

"Loot boxes are particularly lucrative for games companies but come at a high cost, particularly for problem gamblers, while exposing children to potential harm," said Damian Collins, chair of the DCMS. "Buying a loot box is playing a game of chance and it is high time the gambling laws caught up. We challenge the government to explain why loot boxes should be exempt from the Gambling Act."

The decision is a precautionary one, reads the report. "In the absence of research which proves that no harm is being done by exposing children to gambling through the purchasing of loot boxes then we believe the precautionary principle should apply and they are not permitted in games played by children until the evidence proves otherwise."

The report argues with evidence that loot box rewards were "designed to exploit potent psychological mechanisms associated with the development and maintenance of gambling-like behaviours."

This would not be the first country to argue that loot boxes were gambling. In April 2018, Belgium declared that loot boxes would be considered a form of gambling, following an investigation.

According to the Guardian, "Belgium’s Gaming Commission has decided that, yes, they are, and the publishers in question should remove loot boxes from their games or face fines."

However, the U.K. Parliament has yet to take such an official stand. The recommendation maintains that more research would need to be done and that the order to classify loot boxes as a form of gambling be done as a precaution. Yet, they hope to make the regulation official during the next parliamentary session. If parliament does not agree, the committee expects "a paper clearly stating the reasons why it does not consider loot boxes paid for with real-world currency to be a game of chance played for money’s worth."