Right: Star Wars: Battlefront. Belgium has banned this and other games' use of loot boxes, with companies having to patch out the loot boxes in order to continue being played in the country. The response from gamers to Belgium's ban was overwhelmingly positive.
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Background information
The information below is abbreviated from the Wikipedia entry 'Loot box' which can be accessed in full at
and the MediaWrites article 'Loot boxes: What's all the fuss about?' which can be accessed in full at Definition and origin of loot boxes
In video games, a loot box (also called a loot or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item. Loot boxes can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or loot. These range from simple customisation options for a player's avatar or character, to game-changing equipment such as weapons and armor.
A loot box is typically a way for makers to derive extra money from already purchased games. Players either buy the boxes directly or receive the boxes during play and later buy 'keys' to redeem them. These systems may also be known as gacha and integrated into gacha games.
Loot boxes first appeared in various games from 2004 through to 2007 and have since become widespread. Developers and publishers of video games find loot boxes useful in generating ongoing revenue from games while holding the initial purchase price down. They are also valuable in promoting player interest within games by offering new content and cosmetics through loot-box reward systems.
Loot boxes were popularised through their inclusion in several games throughout the mid-2010s. By the latter half of the decade, some games, particularly Star Wars Battlefront II, began to be criticised for their excessive use of the strategy. Such criticism was directed particularly at "pay to win" gameplay systems that favour those that spend real money on loot boxes. Loot boxes are also condemned as exploitative when installed in full-priced games. Due to fears of their use in gray-market skin gambling, loot boxes began to become regulated under national gambling laws in various countries during this period.
Australia
Within Australia, games with loot boxes would fall under gambling restrictions if they can be played "for money or anything else of value"; the question remains if items that only exist within game have "value" that can be quantified, even if this is related to an item's prestige. The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation has stated that it considers loot boxes to be gambling but does not have the authority to prosecute companies registered overseas. The commission has suggested "an immediate R rating" for any games which feature loot boxes as a solution to this limitation. In March 2018, the Australian Office of eSafety published a list of safety guidelines on the dangers of online loot boxes.
Britain
The House of Lords Gambling Committee released a special report on the state of gambling in the UK on July 2, 2020. The report identified the ongoing issue of loot boxes, how they may be seen as gambling and their effect on the youth," and concluded that "Ministers should make regulations under section 6(6) of the Gambling Act 2005 specifying that loot boxes and any other similar games are games of chance, without waiting for the Government's wider review of the Gambling Act."
China
In December 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Culture issued a notice reinforcing certain restrictions on the operation of network or online games, which came into force in May 2017. Amongst the various restrictions mentioned, the notice expressly: bans any random allocation of virtual items or services in game by requiring users that wish to participate to pay by cash or virtual currency - i.e., it is no longer permissible to sell 'loot boxes' directly to users; requires publishers to publicly announce information about the name, property, content, quantity and draw probability of all virtual items and services offered in game, and the results of the random allocation.
To get around the ban, some games publishers now offer loot boxes for 'free' when a player purchases virtual currency.
Denmark
If a game is provided in Denmark (that is, specifically aimed at the Danish market), it will require a licence from the Danish Gambling Authority if it constitutes 'Gambling'.
A game is considered to constitute gambling if all the following conditions are met:
i) The participants in the game have to pay a stake (money or anything else of economic value),
ii)The participants, who have paid a stake, have a chance of winning a prize (all types of prizes of economic value), and
iii)The likelihood of winning has an element of chance.
Based on the above requirements, where in-game items can be exchanged for real money or purchased in-game currency, there is a risk that loot boxes could be categorised as gambling, and an unlawful lottery. The Danish Gambling Authority has not, however, made any public statements regarding loot boxes. Therefore, though there is the potential for action against loot boxes, none has been taken so far.
Poland
The current Polish Act on Gambling Games was adopted in response to a political scandal concerning slot machine games and aimed to gradually remove slot machine gaming from the Polish market. As a result, and to prevent any attempted circumvention of the ban on slot machines, a very broad definition of slot machine games was adopted.
According to the Act, slot machine games are any "games played on mechanical, electrical and mechanical, and electronic devices, including computers, as well as games the rules of which reflect those of slot machine games held via the Internet network, for cash or in-kind prizes, when the game includes an element of chance". The use of 'cash' here would also include anything which may be exchanged into cash or can be obtained by payment of money. By this definition, there is a real risk that the offering of loot boxes to players in Poland could be considered the unlawful provision of slot machine games, especially as the Act declares further that even when there is no cash or in-kind prize, but the game is "organised for commercial purposes" and is "of random nature", such a game should also be considered a slot machine game. Read strictly, this could even affect loot boxes where the contents do not have any 'real world' value (as they cannot be obtained for money or sold).
However, there is currently no indication that the authorities are interested in enforcing the law against games publishers or developers. To do so would have severe consequences for the gaming market in Poland, as slot machines are only permitted to operate in casinos.
Sweden
Gambling in Sweden is regulated by the Swedish Lotteries Act (although a new gambling law is on the horizon), which defines lotteries as events where one or more participants, with or without a bet, may attain a prize which is larger than that which each of the other participants may receive. A licence is required to lawfully provide a lottery in Sweden.
This law only applies where the prizes in question constitute money or money's worth. As a result, if the in-game items that may be obtained through a loot box have no monetary value, then the provision of loots boxes would not constitute a lottery. However, if the in-game items were deemed to have a monetary value by virtue of being able to be traded, relatively easily, for money or money's worth (for example through a third-party website), then there is a real risk that loot boxes could constitute unlawful gambling if provided without a licence in Sweden.
However, there is currently no official guidance from the Swedish Gambling Authority in respect of loot boxes. In our view, unless games publishers themselves facilitate the exchange of in-game items for money or money's worth, then it iseems unlikely that the Gambling Authority would look to enforce the law against games publishers.
Netherlands
Gambling in the Netherlands is regulated by the Dutch Betting and Gambling Act (the "Act"). Under the Act, it is prohibited to: "provide an opportunity to compete for prizes or premiums if the winners are designated by means of any calculation of probability over which the participants are generally unable to exercise a dominant influence, unless a licence has been granted therefore, under this law". It is currently not possible to obtain a licence for remote (online) gambling. As a result, online gambling is currently prohibited in the Netherlands.
The Dutch Betting and Gambling Authority (the "Gambling Authority") recently investigated whether in-game loot boxes should be considered (online) games of chance.[6] The Gambling Authority concluded that loot boxes should be regarded as games of chance when: (i) the content of the boxes is determined by chance; and (ii) the in-game goods can be traded outside of the game, i.e. the goods have an economic/market value. Because it is currently impossible to obtain a licence for online gambling, offering such loot boxes to Dutch consumers is prohibited under the Act. Loot boxes with in-game goods that cannot be traded outside the game (i.e. have no market value) do not meet the definition of a prize and are, therefore, permitted in the Netherlands.