The UK House of Lords has urged the UK government to regulate lootboxes from the realm of gambling legislation and regulation. Due to their nature, they can ask for regulation to be immediate.
The Select Committee of the House of Lords on the social and economic impact of the gaming industry has realized today that more needs to be done to prevent gambling-related harm. They commented that liberalization of gambling by the Gaming Act of 2005, the universal adoption of smartphones and certain loopholes in regulation are creating an ecosystem full of games of chance disguised as video games.
Lootboxes still on their way to regulation in the UK
The Committee hopes that the UK Government will regulate video game lootboxes immediately and changes will be made now. Many of the report's recommendations do not require any legislation, and all are urgent since they are to protect consumers and save lives.
They say that if a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it must be regulated as gambling. The government should act immediately to bring video game lootboxes within the scope of UK gaming legislation and regulation.
They insist that it is crucial that any future developments in gambling, video games or other products that may contain elements similar to gambling, which currently would not be included in the definition of gambling, should be included in the scope of the Gambling law as it appears. They further understand that any immediate changes will only address the problem of lootboxes, but they know that gambling operators and game companies can develop new products that blur the distinction between video games and games of chance to avoid regulation and therefore ask that its definition to enter within the regulation is broader.
This ongoing push to regulate loot boxes in the UK is nothing new. For years, there have been attempts to push through laws and regulations to equate loot boxes in games like Overwatch with casinos, since players can spend real money for a chance to obtain a digital item. If possessing a digital item isn't safe, it could be considered gambling. And if regulation is implemented, given that the UK is one of the largest markets, some developers may change their monetization strategies and have to abandon selling loot boxes.
Source: Evostrix
