What does the lesson “Loot Boxes: Where Video Games Meet Gambling” cover?

By Vadym Zelinskyi·Beginner·10 min read·verified 2026-11-04

Loot Boxes: Where Video Games Meet Gambling

A loot box is a paid random reward inside a video game, which is why gamers, parents and regulators keep comparing it with gambling. This lesson explains how it resembles gambling and how it differs, what the rules say in Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Australia and the EU as of 4 November 2026, and what the evidence can and cannot show. It is written for adults (18+), including parents, and it does not promote gambling or suggest it is a way to make money.

Key takeaways

A paid loot box is a purchase with a random result. At a published chance of 1 in 2,500, about 96% of players would still have nothing after 100 openings.
In Great Britain a gaming prize must be money or money's worth. The government says most loot boxes fail that test because the prize stays in the game, while an unlicensed site using coins that could be sold for cash led to convictions in 2017.
Countries differ. Belgium's regulator treats paid loot boxes in the games it studied as games of chance, top courts in the Netherlands and Austria ruled the other way in the cases before them, and Australia and PEGI use age ratings.
Loot box spending is linked to higher problem gambling scores, but those studies cannot show which causes which. The UK government says a causal link has not been established.
Labels, spending limits and refund promises exist, but a 2025 study found the UK's voluntary guidance was widely not followed on top iPhone games.

By the end you can

Define a paid loot box and work out what a published chance such as 1 in 2,500 means over many openings.
Explain the 'money or money's worth' test in Great Britain, why it leaves most loot boxes outside gambling law, and why skin gambling can fall inside it.
Compare how Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Australia and the EU treated loot boxes as of 4 November 2026.
Say what a correlation between loot box spending and problem gambling scores shows and cannot show, and name the protections parents can look for.

A paid random reward

A loot box is an in-game feature whose contents you do not know until you open it. The UK government describes 'apparently randomised items' that can be bought with money, including through virtual currencies, or reached through gameplay. This lesson is about the paid kind. Some publishers state the odds. Riot Games' League of Legends support page, dated March 2026, prices a Hextech chest and key at 195 of the game's RP currency. It lists 50% skin shard, 25% champion shard and 10% emote, among other results, plus a 1 in 2,500 chance of an exclusive skin. At 1 in 2,500 the average wait is 2,500 chests, and after 100 chests about 96% of players would still have none (2,499/2,500 multiplied by itself 100 times is 0.961). Riot also says you cannot open three chests in a row without a skin shard, which lifts that result to roughly 57%. On the UK App Store, 83 of the 100 highest-grossing games contained loot boxes in January 2024.

Quick check

A loot box item has a published chance of 1 in 2,500 per opening. Roughly what share of players would still have none after 100 openings?

The British test: money or money's worth

A paid loot box resembles gambling in plain ways: you pay, chance decides the result, and some results are rarer and more wanted. The main difference is what the prize can become. In Great Britain, section 6 of the Gambling Act 2005 defines gaming as 'playing a game of chance for a prize', and a prize means 'money or money's worth'. In July 2022 the UK government said most loot boxes do not meet the definition because the prize 'is confined for use within the game and cannot be converted into real-world money'. It called the ability to legitimately cash out 'an important distinction' and chose not to extend gambling regulation 'at this time'. Skin gambling, the betting of in-game items, can cross that line. In February 2017 two directors of the company behind FutGalaxy.com pleaded guilty after the unlicensed site, which had no official link to the FIFA games, let customers gamble with coins that could be sold for real money on an unauthorised market. They were ordered to pay £174,000 and £91,000.

Quick check

Why does the UK government say most loot boxes fall outside the Gambling Act 2005 definition?

Same mechanic, different answers in Europe

Belgium's Gaming Commission reported in April 2018 that paid loot boxes in Overwatch, FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were games of chance, warning operators of up to five years in prison and fines of up to €800,000 for a first violation. A later study found 82 of Belgium's 100 highest-grossing iPhone games selling loot boxes in mid-2022. In the Netherlands, the regulator ordered Electronic Arts in 2019 to stop offering FIFA packs in breach of gambling law or face penalties of up to €5 million. On 9 March 2022 the Council of State revoked that order: the packs were part of a wider game of skill and could not be judged as a separate game of chance. It said loot boxes could still create gambling in other cases. Austria's Supreme Court ruled on 18 December 2025 against a player seeking about €20,000 for packs in a football game. It recorded that no pack was empty, judged the game mode as a whole and found he had not proved chance dominated.

Quick check

What did the Dutch Council of State decide on 9 March 2022?

Age ratings and unfinished EU law

Other rule-makers use age ratings and consumer protection. In Australia, for classification decisions from 22 September 2024, games with loot boxes or other chance-linked purchases get at least an M rating ('not recommended for persons under 15 years of age'), and simulated gambling gets R 18+. PEGI, the pan-European age-rating system, added new criteria in June 2026 and since October 2026 has been moving digital-only games rated PEGI 3, 7 or 12 that sell paid random items up to PEGI 16. On 18 January 2023 the European Parliament asked the Commission for a common approach and an assessment of whether to propose a ban on paid loot boxes. The Commission's EU KIDS Act proposal of 17 September 2026 would stop social networks and video-sharing platforms exposing minors to 'variable reward systems'. A recital says young online gamers 'should benefit from the same protection', yet the article on online games does not apply that ban. The proposal mentions an 'upcoming' Digital Fairness Act; we found no published text as of 4 November 2026.

What the evidence shows, and what it cannot

The best-known finding is a link between loot box spending and problem gambling. Zendle and Cairns surveyed 7,422 gamers in 2018 using the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a nine-question screening tool. Their 2019 replication in PLOS ONE used 1,172 gamers who had not chosen a loot box study and did not know its aim. The effect was similar: η², a measure of how much of the variation a factor accounts for, was 0.051 against 0.054. The UK government's commissioned evidence review counted 15 peer-reviewed studies showing a 'stable and consistent association'. A correlation means two things tend to move together. It does not tell you which causes which. Loot boxes might lead people towards gambling problems, people with gambling problems might spend more on loot boxes, both could happen, or something else could drive both. The authors say a correlational design cannot settle the direction. The government's conclusion is that research 'has not established whether a causal relationship exists'. It adds that a small minority of players may spend disproportionately.

Quick check

A survey finds that people with higher PGSI scores spend more on loot boxes. What can you conclude from that alone?

What parents and players can look for

Three protections are worth knowing about. PEGI uses a 'Paid random items' descriptor and says parental control tools let parents 'limit and monitor their online spending'. The UK government called default £0 spending limits on child accounts 'current best practice' in July 2023. That month, trade body Ukie published voluntary guidance from a government-convened working group, including a commitment to lenient refunds where a child spends without parental consent. Xiao and Lund's peer-reviewed 2025 study tested that guidance on the UK's 100 highest-grossing iPhone games during 2024. Among games with loot boxes, none sought explicit parental consent before under-18s could buy, 23.5% disclosed that loot boxes were present, and 8.6% consistently disclosed the odds for every loot box found. The government said in 2023 it would give an update after a 12-month implementation period and keep legislation under review; we found no such update on GOV.UK as of 4 November 2026. Free support lines are on our player protection page.

Key terms

Skin Betting Problem Gambling Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)UK Gambling Commission Youth Protection Gambling Harm

Check yourself

Check yourself · 1/4

Under section 6 of the Gambling Act 2005, what does 'prize' mean for gaming, outside the gaming machine context?

Check yourself · 2/4

What changed in Australia for classification decisions from 22 September 2024?

Check yourself · 3/4

Which statement matches the rulings by top courts in the Netherlands (2022) and Austria (2025)?

Check yourself · 4/4

What did Xiao and Lund's 2025 study find among top UK iPhone games with loot boxes?

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Sources (15)

Verified 2026-11-04 · next review 2027-11-04 · high confidence

Fact-checks (14)

Definition, legal view and causation: the DCMS response (July 2022) says 'Most loot boxes currently on the market do not meet the definition of gambling under the Gambling Act 2005, as the prize is confined for use within the game and cannot be converted into real-world money' (para 13), that it views 'the ability to legitimately cash out rewards as an important distinction' (para 35), that it 'does not intend to amend or extend the scope of gambling regulation to cover loot boxes at this time' (para 34), that InGAME's evidence assessment found 15 peer-reviewed studies with 'a stable and consistent association' (para 11), and that 'research has not established whether a causal relationship exists' (para 12).
Industry-led measures: the DCMS update (18 July 2023) describes loot boxes as containing 'apparently randomised items', says DCMS convened the Technical Working Group whose output was guidance published by Ukie on 18 July 2023, refers to 'current best practice of default £0 spending limits on child accounts' and 'fair and lenient refund policies', and says the government will keep legislation under review and give further updates after the 12-month implementation period. A GOV.UK search on 4 November 2026 listed no later update.
Statute: Gambling Act 2005, section 6(1) ('playing a game of chance for a prize') and section 6(5) ('money or money's worth'), extending to England, Wales and Scotland (legislation.gov.uk).
Prosecution: the Gambling Commission's release of 7 February 2017 records guilty pleas on 6 February 2017 by Dylan Rigby (£174,000 in fines and costs) and Craig Douglas (£91,000), directors of Game Gold Tradings Limited, which ran FutGalaxy.com, and says FUT coins could be converted into FIFA coins 'sold for real money on an unauthorised secondary market'. The Commission's statement of 24 November 2017, 'Loot boxes within video games', calls FutGalaxy 'a website for providing skins gambling to children' and says items 'confined for use within the game' that 'cannot be cashed out' are 'unlikely to be caught as a licensable gambling activity'.
Belgium: the Gaming Commission's Research Report on Loot Boxes (April 2018, English translation of the Dutch original) says paid loot boxes in Overwatch, FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 'fit the description of a game of chance' and that operators 'risk a prison sentence of up to five years and fines of up to EUR 800,000 for a first violation'. Xiao and Lund (2025) report that 82 of the 100 highest-grossing iPhone games on the Belgian App Store in mid-2022 continued to sell loot boxes.
Netherlands: Council of State, Administrative Jurisdiction Division, 202005769/1/A3, ECLI:NL:RVS:2022:690 (9 March 2022): the regulator's order of 15 October 2019 carried a penalty of €250,000 a week up to €5,000,000 (para 3); it is 'niet uitgesloten' that loot boxes create a game of chance (para 8.3); the regulator wrongly treated the packs as a separate game and the order was revoked (paras 9 and 12).
Austria: Supreme Court (OGH), 6 Ob 228/24h, 18 December 2025, ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2025:0060OB00228.24H.1218.000: the claimant spent €20,748.61 on points and sought €19,962.13 at this stage (paras 15 and 26); 'Es gibt keine leeren Packs' (para 10); the mode is assessed as a whole (para 49); the claimant did not prove that chance predominantly decided the result (para 56); the purchases were not gambling under section 1(1) of the Austrian Gambling Act (para 59). The published text anonymises the game and the parties.
PEGI: 'PEGI Updates Age Ratings of Existing Games with Paid Random Items' (6 October 2026) says new criteria applied from June 2026 and that digital-only games rated PEGI 3, 7 or 12 with paid random items are being updated to PEGI 16 with the descriptor; the same page says parental tools let parents 'limit and monitor their online spending'.
Australia: Explanatory Statement to the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2023 (F2023L01424, registered 27 October 2023) sets M for 'loot boxes and other in-game purchases linked to elements of chance' and R 18+ for simulated gambling, applying 'to classification decisions on and from 22 September 2024'.
EU Parliament: resolution of 18 January 2023 (P9_TA(2023)0008), para 14 asks for 'a common European approach on loot boxes'; para 27 asks that proposals assess 'a ban on paid loot boxes'. The resolution asks the Commission to act and does not itself create rules.
EU Commission: EU KIDS Act proposal, COM(2026) 681 final (17 September 2026), Article 13(2) covers providers of online social networking and video-sharing platform services and includes 'not exposing minors to variable reward systems'; Recital 40 says minors playing online games 'should benefit from the same protection'; Article 15 on online games applies Articles 9, 11 and 12, not Article 13. The explanatory memorandum refers to 'the upcoming Digital Fairness Act'. It is a proposal, not law.
Evidence: Zendle and Cairns, PLOS ONE 14(3): e0213194 (2019), n = 1,172, η² = 0.051, compared with n = 7,422 and η² = 0.054 in their 2018 survey; 'the causal direction of this relationship is unclear'.
Compliance: Xiao and Lund, Royal Society Open Science 12(5): 250704 (28 May 2025): 83.0% of the 100 highest-grossing UK App Store games contained loot boxes in January 2024; among games with loot boxes 'none (0.0%) sought to obtain explicit parental consent', 'Only 23.5% disclosed loot box presence', and 'A mere 8.6% consistently disclosed the probabilities'.
Odds example: Riot Games, Hextech Crafting FAQ (dated 5 March 2026), a company's statement about its own game: 195 RP for a chest and key; 50% skin shard, 25% champion shard, 10% emote, 11.5% ward skin shard and 3.5% summoner icon; a '1 in 2,500 chance' of Hextech exclusives; three-chest bad luck protection raising skin shards to 'roughly 57 percent'. Calculation: (2,499/2,500)^100 = 0.9608, so about 96.1% have none after 100 openings; the mean wait for a 1 in 2,500 chance per opening is 2,500.

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