Less than a week after Belgium began a criminal investigation into FIFA’s loot boxes, 15 gambling regulators from Europe and one from the US have together announced they will “address the risks created by the blurring of lines between gaming and gambling”.
The collaborative effort, organised at the 2018 Gambling Regulators European Forum, includes signatories from the UK, France, Ireland, Spain, and even the US (via the Washington State Gambling Commission).
The key focus for the parties involved appears to be “tackling unlicensed third-party websites offering illegal gambling linked to popular video games”. If you’re wondering what this is, think back to skin betting site CS:GO Lounge, which allowed users to bet real money on a pot of their CS:GO items until Valve cracked down on the site in 2016. Many of these still exist, and regulators want both the video games industry and technology platforms “to play their part in helping crack down on these websites”.
But the investigation won’t stop there. The regulators stated games providers must “ensure that features within games, such as loot boxes, do not constitute gambling under national laws”. This indicates more countries will now examine whether loot boxes can be classed as gambling.
The effort appears to be motivated by concerns about consumer protection and the safety of children online. Neil McArthur, chief executive of the UK Gambling Commission, said regulators “want parents to be aware of the risks and to talk to their children about how to stay safe”.