Australian Study Says Loot Boxes are "Psychologically Akin to Gambling"

Last we heard from the Loot Box drama, fifteen European gambling regulators (+1 from the US) agreed to work together to investigate and possibly take action against Loot Boxes in video games, and decide if they’re gambling or not. But Europe isn’t the only country wrestling with the loot box problem: now, Australia has decided it’s their turn to join the controversy, and have taken a strong stand against Loot Boxes in games.

Specifically, the Australian Environment and Communications Reference Committee performed a study on over 7,400 gaming enthusiasts, and discovered that people who had serious gambling problems were, unsurprisingly, far more likely to spend money on loot boxes.
 

"These results support the position of academics who claim that loot boxes are psychologically akin to gambling. Spending large amounts of money on loot boxes was associated with problematic levels of spending on other forms of gambling. This is what one would expect if loot boxes psychologically constituted a form of gambling. It is not what one would expect if loot boxes were, instead, psychologically comparable to baseball cards."

The study also said that loot boxes could act as a “gateway drug” to other forms of gambling, and condition people who are psychologically vulnerable into gambling more often. Likewise, problem gamblers could find themselves gravitating towards loot boxes.

Now, Australia is not exactly a role model when it comes to video game regulation: in many ways, they are repressive and dangerously behind the curve. So I’m not excited at the prospect of the Australian government deciding to act on this information. But this study would certainly be interesting for, say, fifteen European gambling commissioners who recently decided they needed to investigate the effects of loot boxes on people?

And to think: this all started because EA got too greedy with their own loot boxes. That’s a rich irony for you.