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NHS boss accuses loot boxes of pushing “under the radar” gambling at kidsHere we go, again.
Here we go, again.
Buckle up, 2020. It’s time to wade neck-deep back into the never-ending loot box discourse. The latest contributor to the debate around videogame mystery boxes is NHS Mental health director Claire Murdoch, who joins the growing chorus of officials calling forsurprise mechanicsto be regulated under UK gambling laws. In areport released earlier today, Murdoch condemned the industry of pushing young people into ‘under the radar’ gambling, and believes games that target loot boxes at kids should be removed from sale outright.
The UK Gambling Commission currently operates under the idea thatloot boxes aren’t gambling, as there are no direct ways to extract real-world money from prizes. This new NHS report notes, however, that this hasn’t stopped third-party sites from offering up “gaming accounts and rare items”.
Fair dos, really. Even I, tight as I am with my bank account, have been tempted into picking up a fewOverwatchboxes from time to time. The report notes an investigation that found examples of less restrained spending, including “a 16-year-old paying £2,000 on a basketball game”, and a “15-year-old losing £1,000 in a shooting game.”
Murdoch calls on an outright ban on the sale of games that encourage children to gamble, while parents should also be made more aware of the risks of in-game spending. Loot boxes, on the whole, could stay under severe restrictions: the NHS chief believes games should introduce “fair and realistic” spending limits, and the odds of receiving any given prize should be made visible before purchasing any loot box.
In September, the UK Parliament’sDigital, Culture, Media and Sport Committeealso called current gambling laws insufficient for the current digital reality.
Granted, I don’t expect Parliament to follow up on that anytime soon. Not with you-know-what coming up.
