If you are a gamer, the odds that have been presented with the possibility of buying a “loot box” in a video game are very high. For those who do not know what a “loot box” is, it is a virtual article of a video game which is acquired by paying a price in money, and of which the player does not know what is in the box until it has been purchased.
The question that resonates in different legislations is regarding whether these loot boxes should be classified within what is considered as gambling.
In Chile, Law Nº. 19.995, which establishes the general bases for the authorization, operation and supervision of a gambling casino, in its article 3 letter a) defines gambling as; “Those games whose results do not depend exclusively on the skill or ability of the players, but essentially on chance or luck, and which are indicated in the respective regulations and registered in the games catalog.”
On one hand, many experts in the area of psychology tend to classify “loot boxes” as a kind of game of chance due to the similarities they present with classic casino games and, therefore, indicate that these should be classified and treated as such.
On the other hand, there are those who argue that “loot boxes” are nothing more than other types of micro-transactions, specifically “surprise mechanisms” within video games. The existence of “micro-transactions” is not something new and in it is possible to affirm that in most games it’s possible to access different items through these purchases. Assimilating a “loot box” to a microtransaction is technically not wrong as far as an in-game purchase is concerned, however, this argument seems more like a simplification of the underlying problem, as it obviates the central fact of the matter which is that the buyer of the “loot box” does not know its contents.
The discussion has had different results in different legislations, for example, Belgium and the Netherlands have declared that paid loot boxes are illegal because they are considered games of chance, while in France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom they have declared that they are not considered games of chance. The discussion has also taken place in the United States, one of the most important video game markets, however, to date there has been no change to the legislation that prohibits or limits this practice.
Regarding Chilean legislation, we have not yet seen that the question has been raised, however, we consider that it will be an issue to be addressed in the near future.
