British authorities are calling for the regulation of surprise boxes, as the game

As evidence of this recommendation, the report cites a 2018 Gaming Commission poll that found that 31% of 11- to 16-year-olds paid for money or used gaming objects to open loot boxes. He also distinguished FIFA series for a particularly egregious use of the box mechanics, both because Electronic Arts (EA) indicates that about half of the money generated by the company through additional digital content comes from the Ultimate Team mode, similar to a loot box, in FIFAand because the rewards obtained in one game can not be transferred to the next part of the series. The report gives an example of a gambler who usually spent between £ 800 and £ 1000 a year FIFA because of this cycle.

The Committee acknowledged that there is no conclusive evidence that the use of object chests makes it possible to turn people into problem gamblers, but recalls studies of adolescents showing that they are more likely than adults develop new game habits as a result of locker games. The problem is not that the mechanisms of the loot box encourage people to play the game, say the experts, is that they take advantage of the psychological predispositions of some to the game: "This is not a gateway This is one way the video Game companies could, accidentally or incidentally, take advantage of the problem gambling of their consumers, "said Dr. David Zendle to the Committee.

EA famously dismissed the characterization of their object vault system as an exploitation, asserting to Parliament that the loot boxes were "surprise mechanisms" that were "in fact quite ethical and quite amusing". The Committee was not convinced, however, and recommended that "chests containing the element of chance should not be sold to children who play games". He also recommended that games containing booty chests that can be purchased for real money be considered gambling and that the corresponding laws on gambling be applied to them.

The committee's recommendations are not laws, but the government can choose to enforce them and start regulating looters in the UK.