Spanish regulator moots potential loot box ban
DGOJ launches consultation on changes to legislation highlighting similarities between in-game purchases and gambling
Spain’s gambling regulator the DGOJ has said it could ban so-called loot boxes due to alleged links between in-game purchases and gambling-related harm among younger players.
Launching a consultation into potential changes to legislation to include loot boxes, the DGOJ highlighted the commercialisation of the vertical, which offers players random items in exchange for money.
It is this randomness, which the DGOJ claims leads to “intermittent reinforcement of behaviour characteristic of games of chance, which stimulates the emergence of cognitive distortions and gambling behaviors” among individuals participating.
“The evident connection of some random mechanisms of reward with gambling also brings with it the negative consequences associated in a traditional way with the latter,” the DGOJ stated.
“In particular among certain vulnerable groups, notably minors and people who exhibit gambling behaviours risk or, where appropriate, a disorder associated with their gambling behaviour,” it added.
The regulator cited characteristics of games of chance which include payment for participation, chance in determining the result and a prize transferred to the winning entrant, all characteristics shared with loot boxes.
The DGOJ points to recent UK Gambling Commission research that found 52% of 11–16-year-olds had experience of loot boxes, with 44% purchasing items for money and a further 6% engaging in so-called skin betting with video game items.
Other international regulators, including the Dutch Gambling Authority, have already moved to ban loot boxes, leading to game developers switching these items off to players.
As an alternative to a complete ban, the DGOJ asks if it is appropriate to bring loot boxes under the regulation of gambling, with separate licences for companies offering loot boxes in their games as well as strict identity and age verification standards.
It also asks what self-regulation mechanisms could be used if the need for more formal regulation under gambling laws is not sufficient to warrant a change in the law.
The consultation closes on 31 March.