Christmas CoD for loot boxes & skin betting to be legally-recognised forms of gambling for under 18s

Ahead of the festive season, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has published a report today revealing what young people see as the normalisation of gambling in video games. This is due to the growth in gambling-like features such as loot boxes and skin betting.

Based on research funded by GambleAware exploring gambling amongst young people across Great Britain aged between 11 and 24, Skins in the Game identifies that a majority of young people see both purchasing a loot box (58%) and taking part in skin betting (60%) as forms of highly addictive gambling. In this report, RSPH is calling upon the new Government to introduce legislation to classify loot boxes and skin betting as legally-recognised forms of gambling.

[phoenixwing]

Disgusting. Game companies are literally targeting children and putting them in debt.

[ExBee]

It's extremely scary to think about, and it's really sickening too. I can't believe that 3 of the surveyed children got their parents to re-mortgage their home for their habits

[phoenixwing]

i'm glad i grew up during a time when they really couldn't put gambling crap in my video games. Who knows how that might have affected me as a child in developing habits.

[xHeavYx]

Loot boxes are horrible, we all know that, but people spending the money should be a bit liable for their actions too.

[RacerX]

It's really no different than the new trend of toys for even Younger kids, with the "surprise eggs" and stuff. They make parents buy the same toy 15 times to try and get their kid the one toy they actually wanted.

[AriesBear]

Children can get credit cards? No way! 😒 What's disgusting is you have this I'm not responsible for anything attitude.

[RgR]

It is a shared responsibility but you should always make sure the most vulnerable are protected...but I guess that's only important for covid.

[Psychotica]

How does a "child" get a credit card in their name?

[UnSelf]

The amount of unaccountability in this thread is embarrassing.

I guess it’s GameStop’s fault if your kids steal money/cc/dc out ur pocket and buys an Xbox with it.

[Doomeduk]

Same here phoenixwing being 50 I remember getting a cash wage packet and company's used to have to ask for payment and then I would decide when to pay it, now a large slice of money has already left my bank account before I've even clocked off
A mate was telling me his son asked for £30 when he asked what's it for his son said its for a YouTube streamer, my pal went ballistic when he found payments had already gone out to other streamers well I can't say what happened as younger gamers might be reading
Now money is just a bunch o numbers on a screen and kids think it's some sort of game in how fast they can spend other people's money

[njitram2000]

I was about to say "must be America" but in the UK? Really? The whole "buy on credit" isn't a thing there like it is in the US.

[XbladeTeddy]

We buy things on credit in the UK. Not sure what you mean.

[njitram2000]

But you primarily pay with debit card, not credit card like in the US. So the credit bill getting out of control is far less likely. Sure, you may buy things online with credit card but you don't go do Sainsbury's and pay with it there too. At least that's how it was when I lived there from 1998 to 2005.

[Nuvem]

I study marketing and it disgusts me that companies like EA are giving marketing such a bad image. Is it that hard for any governor with at least two brain cells to see that what they are doing is illegal (i.e. unregulated gambling and underage wagering)?

[Furesis]

"We like to call them surprise mechanics. Surprise! You're broke now!"
Like these people don't give a f**k about others lol. They are not your friend just remember that. It's weird how they can do these things in games. What was the first big game with loot boxes?

[Imalwaysright]

The 1st I played that had them was Mass Effect 3 but I don't know if it was the 1st big game to have them.

[Imalwaysright]

@ PertySlick

I'm just going to leave a link to this video https://www.youtube.com/wat... and if you watch it, please do let me know what you think about it, particularly the tactics they use in order for whales (the word used by the guy in the video, not me) to spend money on loot... I mean surprise mechanics.

[Imalwaysright]

I posted that video because you said that pokemon and baseball cards were the original loot boxes and I wanted to know if you thought they were similar when taking in consideration the tactics the video games industry employs to sell loot boxes wich according to you are predatory. Do the companies that sell trading cards employ the same kind of predatory tactics that can lead to extreme situations such as the ones described in this article? BTW This isn't a rethorical question because I know nothing about the trading card industry.

[ExBee]

I would say the first one to make them a big thing was FIFA with their Ultimate Team packs.

[Spenok]

Sounds like 1 in 10 are stupid and need to take steps not to put themselves in these situations that they are unable to control themselves on.

There's a reason alcoholics don't go near alcohol, or gamblers don't go to casinos etc.

Be smart, don't play the game that has the method to let you spend too much money.

Take responsibility for your actions.

And for the kids this story is talking about, these parents need to do a better job of policing their actions. There are parental controls for a reason. Up to and including blocking your card from being used by a certain retailer. I.E. Playstation, Xbox etc and so on. They need to stop passive parenting by letting the games raise them, and take an active role in their upbringing.

[JEECE]

Agreed generally, but the problem is that these are targeting kids. And I know "well it's the parents' responsibility," and I don't disagree, I'm just pointing out why this is different than the other situations. An 8 year old blowing money on FIFA or Fortnite is not the same as a 35 year old alcoholic or gambling addict.

[RgR]

Well it's the companies responsibility to be responsible with what they're selling to kids. A clear warning of addictive gambling behaviors should be present in the marketing and package. A little icon doesn't suffice. But mention gambling and you bet parents will notice.

[gold_drake]

makes me question where they get the money from? also what do we classify as a kid? i know for a fact that most kids dont have money on their own. as in a credit card or any bank card.

[Class_Viceroy]

While you're not entirely wrong, you have to understand that the dynamic has changed over the past 10 years with our world transitioning into a cyber dominated, transactional environment.

I personally put PINs on all of our media devices, monitor what our kids are watching, and require approval for all purchases. However, I'm human, and something could easily slip through the cracks through 18 years of raising 3 different children. That's 54 years worth of requests, purchases, etc.. that I have to do. Very understandable a mistake could happen. Hell kids nowadays know what a debit card is. They can take it out of your purse/wallet and go to town.

The real point/issue is these companies are targeting children. Your logic doesn't make sense completely. Compare it to this. Pedophiles and child abductors "target" children all the time. And sometimes they wait for the right moment to take advantage of a lapse in judgment, or a parent looking away for 2 minutes, or a babysitter not doing their job, kid goes for a bike ride and never comes back. There are really thousands of scenarios they can wait for to get what they want. It doesn't mean that parent didn't care, or needed to take a more "active" role in their upbringing.

When a person, group, company, whatever, is 100% dedicated to targeting a demographic and wants to take advantage of them, they generally will succeed to a certain point. And it's because of this, when something is so blatantly obvious, like loot boxes, that something needs to be done.

[Spenok]

The problem is the assumption that this is targeting children. When the average age for a gamer is 35, it's just straight disingenuous to say they're "targeting" children.

[MadLad]

I don't feel for these people.
If you want to be an idiot with your money and dump so much of it into dumb stuff, then more power to you and good luck.

Unless you are a parent who took a massive hit on your card because of your kid, well, I hope those skins keep you warm at night as they shut off the heat.

[Class_Viceroy]

@PertySlick - If a game is rated E for Everyone, like FIFA and Madden, and has predatory MTX, that's bullshit and they need to be came down on harshly. No game with stuff like this should be E and not even have warnings.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I think the bigger issue at hand is the fact that the companies are able to target and profit off of stuff like this without it being regulated. Whether it's kids, teens, adults, grandparents who are doing it, it's predatory no matter what. It is 100% a form of gambling, and it's online gambling built with a video game "shell" around it to conceal the true identity.

But yes, the secondary issue is also the fact that parents aren't aware this is happening. Nobody is denying this.

[akaFullMetal]

Just learn this everyone, never buy loot boxes. I don't know why anybody would want to with money. Usually never worth it, just don't start.

It's a shitty practice that should never been allowed.

[AnotherGamer]

Noooooooo, really?

[Duke19]

Its like those stories where people complain about their toddler buying $35k worth of stuff on a mobile game.

HOW DOES SOMEONE NOT NOTICE THIS.

And in cases where its someone who is old enough to be in control of their own money: I absolutely dont liken gaming addictions to other addictions - so I really dont feel for these people

[sourOG]

Seriously lol. I get an alert on my phone when I spend a dollar in a vending machine. How can you not know what’s going on with your finances?

[Nodoze]

Very sad that this is what has become of our hobby. Vulture publishers exploiting children. I am their worst nightmare...our family does not buy any of it.

[sourOG]

Dumbass study lol. “1 in 10 young people used their parents credit card to buy loot boxes” lmao. Yeah no shit... How else are they going to do it if they aren’t even old enough to get a job? The same way they buy anything else. It’s like saying kids are going into debt because their parents are using a credit card to buy them clothes. I can see what they are trying to spin here but it’s a really dumb take. That’s not how you get to loot boxes.

“Three young gamers’ loot box buying habits resulted in their families having to re-mortgage their homes to cover the costs.”
This is bad. Really bad but its 3, not 1 in 10 lol.

[Inverno]

I agree that this has to be looked into, but we can't just make it easy on parents who are so obviously doing a very bad job at keeping an eye on their kids. If your kid gets into debt and even has you remortgaging your home then you shouldn't be having children.

[AriesBear]

The article should read over 1 and 10 people get into debt because they are stupid. The loot box or the developer didn't have a gun to your head when you added your credit card did it? Oh wait I forgot this is the "I have no responsibility for anything generation." It's never my fault. Lord help us.

[CrimsonWing69]

Ok... but that’s on them.

Gaming is expensive in general. If people buy a crap-ton of games and go into debt is that on the gaming industry?

There’s this thing called financial responsibility.

[RgR]

Warn parents????
I'm sorry kid products should not contain anything to warn about.

Remove this shit from games. That would fix the problem.

[UnSelf]

Yeah they should just stop putting small part choking warning labels on toys

[Xristo]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[S2Killinit]

That is insane

[FullmetalRoyale]

I remember when "candy stix" were a controversy, from Big Tobacco. We really just keep turning the wheel.

[Knightofelemia]

Lootboxes are a pain in the ass and should be banned there are weak minded people out there who will sacrifice a roof over their head food to eat and pay bills just to have some sort of rare skin for a character or a gun. The evil part is companies like EA know how to prey on the weak minded and exploit them. Lootboxes are an addiction no
different then gambling, being an alcoholic, OCD, being addicted to food. Governments say they will do something about it but they won't because they get paid a tax form those sales no different then them getting the tax when you rent a movie on the PS4 they get a tax and that shuts the government up.

[franwex]

I get into debt due to buying new consoles :P

It’s good debt. It’s fine.

[blacktiger]

in the name of COVID life is getting easy eh for kids, Essential service and now this garbage

[Knightofelemia]

The practice needs to be banned

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Just ban it, and only be able to get loot boxes or extra skins by playing the game and earning some kind of in game currency to purchase these items, with no real money being involved. All governments should step up and ban this and fine all the companies that promote it.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Well, hopefully more countries will follow suit with this. An outright ban on putting loot boxes in full-priced games would be ideal, but we've never lived in an ideal world so why start now?