The Dutch gambling authority will enforce a new ban on loot boxes. They identified four games that offer loot boxes that are considered gambling. According to the public broadcast company these games are FIFA 18, DOTA 2, PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds and Rocket League.
These games had until the 20th of june to make changes to the gambling aspect of their loot boxes (has the player influence on what he/she gets? do the items have value outside the game, like market place websites?). Starting from thursday the gambling authority will enforce the rules.
Fines can be 830.000 euro (960.000 dollar) or 10% of the company’s worldwide revenue. If they don’t make changes, the public prosecutor will look into prosecution.
The decision is part of a wider discussion on loot boxes and gambling in games. While Belgium has sided with the Netherlands on the issue, the UK Gambling Commission has ruled that loot boxes don’t constitute gambling under British law, and is joined by the Gambling Compliance office of New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs in this decision. In the United States, the ESRB determined loot boxes were not gambling under its own criteria.
It’s well known that, EA has insisted that loot boxes in FIFA aren’t a form of gambling, with CEO Andrew Wilson saying that “EA is “working with all the industry associations globally and with regulators in various jurisdictions and territories, [and] have established that programs like FIFA Ultimate Team are not gambling.”
Source: IGN
