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Over 10% of UK kids are gambling on in-game items

sublimit

Banned
UK's Gambling Commission has also found that around one percent are considered "problem gamblers"

While the world's various gambling commissions and governments continue to debate whether loot boxes should be considered gambling, a new survey from UK's Gambling Commission has actually found that British kids are placing bets on in-game items like weapon skins.

This so-called "skins gambling" has affected a little over 1 in 10 UK kids between the ages of 11 and 16, according to the survey. 45% of 11-16 year-olds were aware of "skin betting" and the knowledge of the gambling practice skewed more in the male direction with 59% of boys being familiar with it compared to 31% of girls. In addition to gambling on in-game items, 11 percent acknowledged that they have played gambling-themed social games on their smartphones or tablets.

Alarmingly, there's even a small percentage (just under one percent) who were classified as "problem gamblers," but the rate of these gamblers isn't any higher than it would be among an adult population. The amount of money being spent while gambling isn't typically huge. Around 64% of those who gamble said they'd spent £5 or less over the last week; however, 8% admitted to having spent over £40.

Sarah Harrison, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, believes that UK gamers are effectively being indoctrinated into gambling without even being aware of it.

"Because of these unlicensed skin betting sites, the safeguards that exist are not being applied and we're seeing examples of really young people, 11 and 12-year-olds, who are getting involved in skin betting, not realising that it's gambling," she said, as reported by the BBC. "At one level they are running up bills perhaps on their parents' Paypal account or credit card, but the wider effect is the introduction and normalisation of this kind of gambling among children and young people."

The BBC pointed out one unfortunate example of a Bangor University student, Ryan Archer, who's gambling habits spiraled out of control. He got into skins gambling at age 15 and within four years had lost more than £2,000.

"I'd get my student loan, some people spend it on expensive clothes, I spend it on gambling virtual items," he said. "There have been points where I could struggle to buy food, because this takes priority."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-uk-kids-are-gambling-on-in-game-items-report

As bad as this sounds one has to wonder where the hell the parents of those kids are...
 

ShadyJ

Member
I used to buy rocket league keys for my son every now and then


I told him we don't do this anymore because of 'gambling' and he whole heartedly agreed.

Even if it's cosmetic the chance at anything 'good' is fucking low and the fact this shit is marketed in teen games and lower is bullshit.
 

autoduelist

Member
I'm not really fond of regulation in general, but I -am- glad this is gaining recognition and awareness, which is the first step towards curbing problem behavior.
 

Shifty

Member
I woke up to an email about this today. They've made various resources available here, excel documents of statistics and the like:
Gambling Commission

They also made an infographic:
Young-People-graphic-2017.png
 

BANGS

Banned
I'm sorry but gambling is completely voluntary and prolly the lamest "addiction" I've ever heard of. There are people with shopping addictions also... let that sink in...

I don't like loot boxes in my games either, especially with all the P2W shit in multiplayer games. But it's really disingenuous to pretend we actually care because of "evil gambling think about the children my god the children!". We care because it's our favorite hobby and we don't wanna see games get ruined by it(Like Battlefront 2 was/is). We should really back off with getting government involved, that can only lead to heartbreak. Just don't buy the games that have loot boxes, and support the games that don't. There is room in this market for every type of gamer, who are we to deny others who actually enjoy loot boxes their games?
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
On xbox you can put an access code b4 making purchases. This should help control ppls kids from not spending.
 

DryvBy

Member
I truly don't want government regulation on this topic. First off, the government is incredible stupid when it comes to media. How many of these politicians do you think are sitting around playing video games all day? They're the same dinosaurs from the 90s/00s who thought Mortal Kombat was a murder simulator. But you honestly think they can figure out in-game loot crates or similar systems? C'mon now. They'll have games like Dead Rising banning the casino levels because some idiot lawyer will say technically you bought the game and you could gamble and possibly make more in-game money.

Once you give the government anything, you're not getting anything back. Ever. It's theirs. I'd rather a private organization have a warning about them and leave it at that, just like the ESRB.

I've said this in the other thread but if loot crates are "gambling" in the same vein as casinos and blackjack (with hookers, of course), then so is opening a pack of Topps basketball cards. Or Pokemon cards. Anything that has a mystery prize and "collect em all" marketing behind it. I don't feel it's the same form of "gambling" as casino because they're no monetary gain from opening a loot box.
 

BANGS

Banned
The "Is it gambling?" argument really comes down to semantics. It's irrelevant at this point as people are revisiting the very definition of it legally...

But I agree with you, it's not gambling and shouldn't be illegal. But then again, I feel that way about real gambling too, so fuck me lol

I just can't help but shake this feeling that all the outrage over "gambling" is just a poorly guided defense mechanism in response to seeing an otherwise awesome game like battlefront 2 get ruined by loot crates. I get it, it sucks, but let's be real with eachother and not rally around a cause we really don't give a shit about to fix another that we do...
 

chrismohan

Neo Member
The "Is it gambling?" argument really comes down to semantics. It's irrelevant at this point as people are revisiting the very definition of it legally...

But I agree with you, it's not gambling and shouldn't be illegal. But then again, I feel that way about real gambling too, so fuck me lol

I just can't help but shake this feeling that all the outrage over "gambling" is just a poorly guided defense mechanism in response to seeing an otherwise awesome game like battlefront 2 get ruined by loot crates. I get it, it sucks, but let's be real with eachother and not rally around a cause we really don't give a shit about to fix another that we do...

The issue is not really whether it’s gambling as those are semantics that will be bounced back and can forward, but rather the fact that the loot box is a unguaranteed reward that (in the vast majority of cases) is targeted specifically at the pre Adult market. This is shady and wrong. Micro transactions where he buyer is paying for and knows what they are getting is one thing but targeting users who are the behest of other’s money for an unknown box needs stamped out immediately for the long term good of society.

As usual, it is the exploitative nature of advertising and exploiting the impulsive nature of children that is wrong. The EA deal for Battlefront is worst because it is essentially an exclusive cartel. They take the biggest marketing tool to the pre adult market where there are no alternatives and itemise it to the hilt. Corporations and companies only worry about bottom line and therefore legislation is needed.
 

BANGS

Banned
This is shady and wrong. Micro transactions where he buyer is paying for and knows what they are getting is one thing but targeting users who are the behest of other’s money for an unknown box needs stamped out immediately for the long term good of society.

As usual, it is the exploitative nature of advertising and exploiting the impulsive nature of children that is wrong.

Debatable, all of it. There are plenty who see nothing shady or wrong in this, it's just marketing to an effective audience. I am one of those people. I don't see anybody being harmed directly by this practice, and any indirect harm(like the convenient reports of kids becoming gambling addicts) is of no fault of the video games IMO.
 
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