Earlier this yr, the Australian Senate authorized an investigation into loot packing containers to be held by the Environment and Communications References Committee. Today, the committee has reported the outcomes of these findings, and the ultimate phrase just isn’t type. Among different issues famous within the outcomes, the committee says “loot boxes provide games companies with an unregulated way of exploiting gambling disorders amongst their customers.”
The report says “our large-scale study (n=7,422) found important links between loot box spending and problem gambling. The more severe gamers’ problem gambling was, the more likely they were to spend large amounts of money on loot boxes.”
Based on that, the committee means that “loot boxes act as a gateway to problem gambling amongst gamers,” saying that there’s a “serious risk” for loot packing containers to result in “gambling-related harm.”
The full report means that games with loot packing containers be given parental advisories, promote the presence of “in-game gambling content” and that “serious consideration is given to restricting games that contain loot boxes to players of legal gambling age.”
Those are the suggestions of the Senate-commissioned committee, however they’ll solely translate into motion if laws is handed. Previous motion, like Belgium’s anti-loot box efforts, have relied on extending current playing legal guidelines to cowl loot box-style transactions. But it seems like that particular end result is unlikely in Australia.
Australia’s Interactive Gambling Act 2001 is cited because the most certainly relevant legislation for loot packing containers, however since these digital transactions usually can’t be “cashed out” for actual worth, that legislation is unlikely to be utilized right here. There have been makes an attempt to amend that legislation to increase to digital objects through the years, however these makes an attempt have failed.
“Without such an amendment of the current Australian gambling laws,” the committee concludes, “enforcement action in terms of loot boxes is currently unlikely.”
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