Breaking Ban: Assessing the effectiveness of Belgium’s gambling law regulation of video game loot boxesuse asterix (*) to get italics

Leon Y. XiaoPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"

2022

<p>Loot boxes in video games are gambling-like mechanics that players buy to obtain randomised rewards of varying value. Loot boxes are conceptually and psychologically similar to gambling, and loot box expenditure is positively correlated with self-reported problem gambling severity. Citing consumer protection concerns, the Belgian Gaming Commission opined that such mechanics constitute gambling under existing law and effectively ‘banned’ loot boxes by enforcing gambling law and threatening criminal prosecution of non-compliant companies implementing paid loot boxes without a gambling licence. The effectiveness of this ban at influencing the compliance behaviour of video game companies (and, by implication, consumers’, including children’s, exposure to and consumer protection from loot boxes) will be assessed. Virtually no video game company should have continued to implement paid loot boxes in Belgium following the ban, particularly amongst games deemed suitable for underage children. The loot box prevalence rate in Belgium, where the ban applies, should be lower than previously observed in other Western countries where no effective loot box regulatory restrictions have been applied. The 100 highest-grossing iPhone games in Belgium will be analysed to identify their Apple Age Rating and the presence/absence of paid loot boxes. <strong>Results</strong>: tbd. <strong>Conclusions</strong>: tbd.</p>

Loot boxes; Gambling law; Video gaming regulation; Consumer protection; Belgium

NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).

Humanities, Social sciences

2022-02-07 22:54:50

Veli-Matti Karhulahti