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The ineffectiveness of Belgium’s regulation of loot boxes

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View Open Access Article View Snapshot Back to Search Results

snapshot summaries


Author(s): Xiao, Leon Y.

Journal: Collabra: Psychology

Year Published: 2023

Date Added: March 09, 2023

Loot boxes are gambling-like mechanisms found in many video games. People buy loot boxes to obtain randomized rewards of varying value. Research indicates that loot box spending is related to problem gambling severity. In 2018, the Belgian Gaming Commission ‘banned’ loot boxes by threatening legal action against gaming companies with games including loot boxes that do not have gambling licences. In this article, the researcher examined the effectiveness of this ‘ban’. After reviewing 100 of the highest-grossing iPhone games in Belgium, the researcher found that the majority of games (82%) still contained loot boxes. Additionally, many of these games were rated suitable for children aged 12 and up. These findings suggest that the Belgian loot box ‘ban’ is ineffective. The researcher suggests that a less restrictive approach, such as the adoption of ethical game designs and the development of educational campaigns, may be more successful.


Citation: Xiao, L. Y. (2023). Breaking ban: Belgium’s ineffective gambling law regulation of video game loot boxes. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), Article 57641. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.57641

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.57641

Keywords: consumer protection ; gambling legislation ; loot boxes ; video gaming regulations

Topics: Information for Operators

Conceptual Framework Factors:   Environment - Culture of Social Responsibility ; Exposure - Convergence of Gaming and Gambling ; Gambling Environment ; Environment - Public Policy ; Gambling Exposure

Study Design: Observational: Cross-sectional

Geographic Coverage: Belgium

Study Population: The 100 highest-grossing iPhone games in Belgium

Sampling Procedure: The 100 highest-grossing iPhone games on the Belgian Apple App Store on 28 May 2022 as reported by App Annie (since re-branded to data.ai), an authoritative independent analytics company, were selected to form the sample.

Study Funding:

This study was funded by an Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling (AFSG) Postgraduate Research Support Grant received by the UK Gambling Commission and administered by Greo. The author is supported by a PhD Fellowship funded by the IT University of Copenhagen (IT-Universitetet i København), which is publicly funded by the Kingdom of Denmark (Kongeriget Danmark).

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