UK Gambling Commission looking into loot boxes

The UK Gambling Commission is talking about loot boxes and gambling

microtransactions

Credit: Rockstar Warehouse

Loot boxes are the most controversial gaming topics of 2017. Most gamers don’t like microtransaction special the loot boxes in triple-A games that cost $59.99. Many politicians are looking into the loot box system in games such as Star Wars Battlefront 2, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Forza Motorsport 7, and others. The Belgium government was the first to start talking about microtransactions. The Belgium government is investigating to see if loot boxes that players buy with real money are gambling or not. A member of the British parliament submitted two inquiries to the Secretary of State. The  Secretary of State said they are reviewing the inquiries and they are monitoring developments. Today we got an official response from the UK gambling commission.

The gambling commission said that they are looking into the loot box system to see if it falls under UK gambling laws or not. They say the loot box/ loot crate system is a huge risk to people especially kids. Star Wars Battlefront 2 is rated T, and Forza Motorsport 7 is rated E so a lot of kids will be playing those games. Unfortunately, most games that have loot boxes might not fall under the UK gambling law because you can’t cash out the rewards from loot boxes for real money they are only in-game content. Earlier this year the UK gambling commission brought an unlicensed gambling website to justice. The website was called Futgalaxy. In Futgalaxy people bought FUT coins people were able to gamble with FUT coins then convert them to FIFA currency. They were able to sell the FIFA currency they earned through gambling or use it in their own game. So it seems like games such as Star Wars Battlefront 2 wouldn’t be labeled as gambling games in the UK but they will probably be labeled as gambling in Belgium.

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Technology, video game news, gambling, microtransactions, loot boxes

Ali F
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