Children’s Commissioner Urges UK Gambling Regulation Over Loot

England’s Children’s Commissioner has led calls for the UK government to introduce new changes which would classify loot boxes in games as gambling. The public body has said it is concerned about the money which is being spent by children while playing, and believes that tighter laws are necessary to provide protection.

Survey revealed shocking results

The Children’s Commissioner’s Office (CCO) carried out a survey of children aged between 10 and 16 years old, asking them about their habits while playing online games. The results showed that many of the youngsters are racking up exorbitant costs online, sometimes in the region of hundreds of pounds.

According to the CCO, 93% of the children questioned admitted to playing online video games and a number of them expressed concerns over the amount of money they spent. The CCO found that expenditure on games varied significantly, with some children spending several hundred pounds in a year and others shelling out far less.

However, one of the most concerning features was that children reported that buying a loot box felt like gambling as they had no way of finding out what they were purchasing until after they’d bought.

Although it’s possible to play games without buying a loot box, many children described feeling coerced into buying as a result of peer pressure. One 10-year-old female Fortnite player said she feared being judged as “trash” if she only had a basic skin visible in the game.

Calls for urgent action

The CCO has pointed out the relative discrepancies in the law, noting that children are not permitted to gamble while playing offline games but believe that loot boxes are tantamount to online gambling. They have called for the government to bring in rapid changes to the law which would regulate loot boxes as a type of gambling.

There were a number of extra recommendations from the CCO including the ability to track daily spending as well as introducing a daily cap.

Despite the CCO recommendations, the government is unlikely to make any imminent changes. A 12-month investigation into micro transactions in games has just been completed by the Gaming Regulators’ European Forum, a body which represents 19 countries. This month they announced their conclusions which opted against recommending a change in the regulation of loot boxes. The body said that regulation would be too complex and should be left to the individual countries to determine.