Better regulation needed on gaming apps to prevent ‘normalising gambling’ for children, says APCC

Better regulation of in-app features in video games are needed following serious concerns that they “normalise gambling” for children, says the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).

In particular, it says certain gaming features known as ‘loot boxes’ could instill “unhealthy behaviours” and pre-expose children and young people to developing addictive gambling-like tendencies later in life.

Loot boxes appear as chests, crates or card packs that players can buy to acquire items such as weapons, special abilities or ‘skins’ that alter a character’s appearance. Typically, they are accessed through game-play or purchased with in-game items, virtual currencies or directly with real-world money.

The APCC says concerns have been raised about the structural and psychological similarities between loot boxes and gambling with fears that they can encourage children to gamble.

The charity Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) has warned that for young people, gambling and gaming are often closely linked and it is an “often-overlooked aspect of safeguarding”.

APCC joint addictions and substance misuse lead Joy Allen said: “Parents, grandparents and even the children themselves won’t be aware of the harm these loot boxes can cause.

“These features can lead to addiction as it is not about the money or the winnings, it’s the impact it has on the brain and the receptors.”

Ms Allen, the police and crime commissioner for Durham, said the charity Gamble Aware has also expressed its concerns over the use of loot boxes – which are used by 40 per cent of children who play video games – stating that they “normalise gambling-like activity”.

The Gambling Commission also identified loot boxes as a potential risk to children.

In September 2019, the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee published a report into immersive and addictive technologies.

This recommended that loot boxes should not be sold to children where there was an element of chance involved in the purchase. It also recommended that government legislate to specify that loot boxes are a game of chance.

Ms Allen said the Government’s consultation on loot boxes looked at evidence that showed a link between loot boxes and gambling harms. It concluded that purchases of loot boxes should be unavailable to all children and young people until they are enabled by a parent or guardian and that better evidence and research should be developed to inform future policy making on loot boxes and more broadly on video games.

The Government considered three types of response but favoured improved industry-led protections for users. It did not favour legislative changes at risk of significant implementation challenges and unintended consequences, said Ms Allen.

She added: “We know there are at least 55,000 young people already who have got a gambling addiction and what we know from research is that the gambling industry targets the highly addictive. Young people are being preyed on and are sleepwalking into potential danger.

“If these features cannot be abolished, they should come with health warnings much like cigarette packets. We all have a responsibility to safeguard future generations.”

Dr Heather Wardle, from the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, believes that loot boxes should be age-restricted and not available to under-18s, as they are a ‘‘predatory practice’’ that entraps young people into repeated purchasing.

Her study published last year, Loot Boxes, Gambling and Problem Gambling Among Young People, demonstrated a “substantial association” between the purchase of loot boxes and problem gambling, which Dr Wardle says is not fully accounted for by other patterns of gambling consumption.

It has been suggested that they are ‘‘psychologically akin’’ to gambling as individuals stake money on the uncertain outcome of a future event in the hope of receiving something of greater value, said Dr Wardle.