{"id":76124,"date":"2018-04-22T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-04-22T17:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=76124"},"modified":"2018-04-21T05:02:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T12:02:46","slug":"loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Loot Boxes Are Gambling, Top Video Game Titles Illegal, Say Dutch Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dutch gaming regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has said that loot boxes where rewards are determined by chance and prizes can be traded outside the game constitute illegal gambling and that many popular titles are currently breaking the law.<\/p>\n

\"Loot
FIFA 18 was one of four games that the KSA said violated Dutch gambling laws because its loot box items can be traded outside the gaming environment. Other titles sanctioned were Dota2, PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds and Rocket League. (Image: EA Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The regulator said that developers have been told to adapt the games by June or face a total ban in Holland.<\/p>\n

KSA said it analyzed ten popular video games and found four to be problematic. While it declined to mention exactly which titles had fallen foul of the country\u2019s gambling laws, they later were named by Dutch broadcaster NOS as Fifa18, Dota2, PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds and Rocket League.<\/p>\n

In each case, the offending titles permitted the trading of digital items outside the game environment and therefore they could be ascribed a \u201cmarket value,\u201d said the regulator.<\/p>\n

Impact of Addiction Unclear<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, even games publishers that do not infringe the law directly will be asked to\u00a0“remove the addiction-sensitive elements (\u2018almost winning\u2019 effects, visual effects, ability to keep opening loot boxes quickly one after the other and suchlike) from the games and to implement measures to exclude vulnerable groups or to demonstrate that the loot boxes on offer are harmless.”<\/p>\n

\n

The KSA added that it “has not yet received any signals that demonstrate that problem players and\/or addicted players are opening loot boxes on a large scale.” Nevertheless, it remains concerned about the possible impact of addiction, for which it identified a “moderate to high” risk in the ten games it studied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“To date, the providers of the games with loot boxes that were studied have not provided suitable control measures to exclude vulnerable groups from loot boxes and\/or to prevent addiction,” said the KSA. “This means that, in any event, the minors vulnerable group can open loot boxes without any threshold and\/or be tempted into opening loot boxes.”<\/p>\n

The Problem with Loot Boxes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Holland\u2019s close neighbor, Belgium, recently took a similar stance<\/a> against loot boxes and meanwhile studies are underway in various countries across Europe, as regulators grapple with the question of what loot boxes actually are, and how they can be most effectively regulated.<\/p>\n

Similar efforts are underway in Hawaii and Washington State and the question has even been brought up in Congress.<\/a><\/p>\n

Last October, the video games industry self-regulator ESRB said it would not give games with loot boxes \u201cadults only\u201d ratings because it did not deem them to be gambling \u2013 instead, they use a \u201csimilar principle to collectable card games,\u201d it claimed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dutch gaming regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has said that loot boxes where rewards are determined by chance and prizes can be traded outside the game constitute illegal gambling and that many popular titles are currently breaking the law. The regulator said that developers have been told to adapt the games by June or face a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":76126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3313,3312,19,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLoot Boxes Are Gambling, Top Video Game Titles Illegal, Say Dutch Authorities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Dutch gambling regulator deems major video games titles to be unlawful because their loot boxes constitute gambling, including as Fifa18, Dota2, PugG and Rocket League.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Loot Boxes Are Gambling, Top Video Game Titles Illegal, Say Dutch Authorities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Dutch gambling regulator deems major video games titles to be unlawful because their loot boxes constitute gambling, including as Fifa18, Dota2, PugG and Rocket League.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-22T17:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-21T12:02:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/\",\"name\":\"Loot Boxes Are Gambling, Top Video Game Titles Illegal, Say Dutch Authorities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-22T17:00:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-21T12:02:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"The Dutch gambling regulator deems major video games titles to be unlawful because their loot boxes constitute gambling, including as Fifa18, Dota2, PugG and Rocket League.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/loot-boxes-gambling-say-dutch-authorities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifa.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"FIFA 18 was one of four games that the KSA said violated Dutch gambling laws because its loot box items can be traded outside the gaming environment. 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