UK Government Responds To Loot Boxes Concern As Gambling

A few days ago UK Goverment was made aware of the issue of Loot Boxes being similar to gambling a new issue which has become a hot topic in the gaming community sparking many debates “if Loot boxes are gambling or not” but still no clear answer has come out.

Previously Daniel Zeichner, a British Labour Party politician and a Member of Parliament for Cambridge has submitted two question regarding the issue to the parliament and a secretary has given a temporary answer.

According to WCCF Tech Tracey Crouch, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport replied to Zeichner question and iterated the same answer given by UK Gambling question but also added some few important statements which you can read below.

Earlier this year the Gambling Commission successfully prosecuted the operators of a website providing illegal gambling facilities for in-game items which was accessible to children – the first regulator in the world to bring such an action.
The government recognise the risks that come from increasing convergence between gambling and computer games. The Gambling Commission is keeping this matter under review and will continue to monitor developments in the market.

So basically the government is saying that it will be monitoring the issue for now and based on their conclusion it will decide if the loot boxes fit the criteria of UK Gambling law.

Video Games and media rating bodies like ESRB, PEGI, and UKIE has refused to classify loot boxes as gambling and so any decision from a powerful government such as the UK will have a widespread effect on the whole gaming industry.

And I assume the decision will come soon as the petition started in the UK by gamers has now managed to obtain 14,107 signatures as of writing and if it reaches the goal of 100,000 signatures then this issue will be considered as a topic of debate in parliament among politicians.

EA has already responded to the issue and has assured gamers that loot boxes won’t affect online gameplay and everything will be fair to play.