The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is due to launch a call for evidence into loot boxes, which could see the video games feature reclassified as a gambling product. Loot boxes have been a topic of controversy in recent years, with concerns raised over whether they encourage children and younger audiences to gamble. Loot boxes are items embedded …
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Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon has called for a radical rethink on British society’s digital engagements and identity, which would impact the governance of UK gambling. Presenting SNP’s ‘Stronger for Scotland’ 2019 General Election manifesto, Sturgeon underlined that SNP would continue to push for the UK government to treat problem gambling as a public health matter. Despite supporting a …
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Mirroring Labour and Lib-Dem pledges, the Conservative Party states that it will sanction a review of the Gambling Act after publishing its ‘Get Brexit Done – Unleash Britain’s Potential’ General Election 2019 manifesto. Speaking in Telford (Shropshire) this Sunday, PM Boris Johnson presented the 60-page document outlining how the Conservative government would ‘forge a new Britain’ outside of EU restraints. …
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Members of the Gaming Regulators’ European Forum (GREF) have confirmed the completion of a year-long study into the effects of microtransactions in video games, which has included the use of ‘loot boxes’. The members of the Forum, which includes gambling regulators from 19 countries, have chosen not to implement measures which would restrict such features, despite receiving specific recommendations to …
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A House of Commons committee has advised that further regulation on in-game spending and video game loot boxes is considered, with the committee recommending that children should be banned from purchasing them. The recommendations come as part of an inquiry by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) which aimed to develop a report on ‘addictive and immersive technologies’. …
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Global gambling regulators have joined forces in an attempt to address concerns over the “blurred lines between gambling and video games”. Also stressing issues regarding skins and loot boxes in such titles, fifteen gambling regulators from across Europe, in addition to the Washington State Gambling Commission, have signed an agreement to address the risks. A pledge to tackle “unlicensed third-party …
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Star Wars Battlefront II was released this week, and with it came further questions surrounding the game’s use of virtual ‘loot boxes’. The game, created by California-based video gaming giants Electronic Arts (EA), has drew criticism for implementing these add-on boxes that must be purchased with real-life cash, and is now under investigation from the Belgian Gaming Commission. Critics say …
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Loot boxes have been thrust into the public spotlight, with a Labour Party MP submitting questions to parliament relating to the divisive virtual item. Daniel Zeichner, the MP for Cambridge, asked Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley what steps she plans to take to “help protect vulnerable adults and children from illegal gambling, in-game gambling …
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