The Dutch Gaming Authority (which also regulates gambling in the Netherlands) has announced that loot boxes are now indeed to be considered gambling. It likened loot boxes to a slot machine or roulette. [Thanks, vg247!]
The regulating body investigated ten popular games that included loot boxes, and found that four of them had “elements in them that can also be found in the gambling world”. In these games, the items could be traded to provide economic value, and thus violated the rules of chance. The other six did fall within gambling laws, but were still criticized in how they were implemented.
The games tested included Dota 2, FIFA 18, PUBG, and Rocket League.
The four problematic games will now have two months to change their loot boxes in order to comply with Dutch gambling laws, or risk being fined or prohibited from being sold in the Netherlands.
