UK committee says surprise boxes should be covered by gambling regulations

The British Parliamentary Committee of the UK Ministry of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport believes that mailboxes should be governed by the current UK legislation on gambling. together, including how chests are used in video games.

During these conversations, the committee interviewed several gaming industry personalities, including the Vice President of Legal Affairs at EA, who noted that the term "surprise mechanics" was preferred to the boxes of loot from FIFA, during several sessions held this summer.

The findings of these hearings and the committee's reflection on them have since been compiled in a report released today, along with the committee's recommendation that regulations be required.

"We consider the surprise boxes that can be purchased with real money and do not reveal their contents in advance as games of chance played for money," concludes the committee. This finding comes with a suggestion that the UK government should enforce the existing legislation on gambling to object boxes, which the UK Gambling Commission is not able to do until the government changes current definitions contained in this legislation.

Beyond that, he also notes that gaming companies "should do more to prevent gambling objects from being exchanged for real money or used in unlicensed gambling," a problem by games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive through the infamous skin paris sites that have drawn attention a few years back.

In its discussions with game designers, the committee noted that "representatives of the gaming industry deliberately failed to answer our questions about typical gambling patterns" and recommended that companies be more informed on how games are played.

In parallel with the discussion on the box-games, the DCMS committee also discussed the recent classification of the World Health Organization regarding gambling disorders and stated that the industry had "not sufficiently accepted the responsibility of understand or prevent this harm.

"Policy decisions and potential industry interventions are hampered by a lack of solid evidence, which stems in part from companies not willing to share game model data," says the report. .