The House of Lords has called for the UK government to immediately reclassify loot boxes as gambling, after a report by the Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry made 66 recommendations as to how the government can improve its protection of consumers.
House Of Lords Calls For Loot Boxes To Be Classed As Gambling
The liberalisation of gambling by the Gambling Act 2005, the universal adoption of smartphones, and the exploitation of soft-touch regulation by gambling operators has created a perfect storm of addictive 24/7 gambling.
The committee expects the government and the regulator to make changes now. Many of the report’s recommendations do not need legislation, and all of them are urgent if consumers are to be protected and lives saved.
An extensive survey was conducted last year by a committee by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which concluded that paid loot boxes should be regulated under gambling laws in the UK. The government responded nine months later, proposing a call for evidence that loot boxes constitute as gambling.
The report by the House of Lord’s committee features chapter on loot boxes, which read as follows:
While we welcome the government’s intention to consider the relationship between gambling and video gaming, we believe that this issue requires more urgent attention We agree that it is vital that any legislative changes are based on evidence; the evidence we have heard has stressed the urgency of taking action, and has not drawn attention to any unintended consequences.
In its response to the government’s call for evidence, the committee highlighted academic research which already “proves that there is a connection, though not necessarily a casual link, between loot box spending and problem gambling.”
We echo the conclusions of the Children’s Commissioner’s report, that if a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated as gambling.
Source: GI.biz