Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to regulate
loot boxes as a form of online gambling.
(LD)
I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order
Paper and declare my interest as chairman of Peers for Gambling
Reform.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ( of Whitley Bay) (Con)
My Lords, the Government’s response to the call for evidence on
loot boxes is being developed alongside our review of the
Gambling Act. We received over 30,000 responses to our call for
evidence and will publish the Government’s response in the coming
months. It will consider a range of issues, including in relation
to gambling. The gambling White Paper will be published in the
coming weeks.
(LD)
I thank the Minister for that reply. He will be aware that, two
years ago, the Government responded to a DCMS Committee report
saying that the Gambling Act review would have
“a particular focus on tackling issues around loot boxes.”
The link between loot boxes and problem gambling has now been
verified by many empirical studies. Given that 60,000 children
are considered to be problem gamblers, will the Minister confirm
that the much-delayed White Paper will make specific proposals,
going beyond the steps recently taken by the games industry, to
protect young people from the harm caused by loot boxes and other
gambling-like products?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, I cannot anticipate the much-anticipated White Paper,
but we have certainly looked at the potential for harm to
children and other vulnerable people through gambling. We looked
at the issue of loot boxes separately because it is a technical
and distinct area. We are very glad to have had 30,000 responses
to our call for evidence. These have been considered alongside 50
submissions from academics and businesses and an independent
evidence assessment of academic literature. So, we are looking at
this in the detail that it deserves.
(CB)
My Lords, bearing in mind that loot boxes may be a first step in
children developing a gambling addiction in later life, how can
the Government justify an 18-month delay before responding to the
consultation, which was completed in November 2020?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, as I outlined, this is a technical area and we have had
a lot of submissions to look at, including academic literature on
this changing and emerging area. But this has not stopped us
taking action in the meantime: we have banned gambling on credit
cards, tightened restrictions on VIP schemes and updated the
gambling advertising codes to ban adverts that have a strong
appeal to children—for example, those featuring sportsmen such as
Premiership footballers.
(Con)
My Lords, loot boxes are a form of online gambling. There is no
harm in regulating them, but we have to remember that underage
persons are certainly not allowed to participate in gambling. In
Kenya, I was a trader in books and stationery and was a leading
importer of gambling newspapers and magazines from the UK. Many
sensible persons would approach me and say that I should tell my
fellow traders that they should not sell these gambling
newspapers to children, as a token of good service to
society.
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, the Government are committed to ensuring that the UK is
one of the safest places in the world to be online, and that
includes gaming and gambling. The Information Commissioner’s
Office has published the children’s code, which sets out how
online services which are likely to be accessed by children
should protect them online.
(DUP)
My Lords, there are two main ways of controlling the use of loot
boxes—banning or regulation—so what assessment have the
Government made of the effectiveness of Belgium’s ban on the use
of loot boxes and the Chinese approach of reducing the number of
loot boxes that can be opened on a daily basis?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
As part of our review, we are of course looking at examples from
around the world to see what other jurisdictions have done and
will set out our responses in due course.
(Con)
My Lords, as I do not gamble, can somebody please tell me what a
loot box is and how it works?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My noble friend asks a good question and one which I had to ask
in preparing for this. In brief, a loot box is a prize which can
be won in an online game. It could be a superpower for your
character, or it could be a new player for your virtual football
team. They take many forms, but they are prizes which have no
monetary value; their worth is to be played in the game.
(Lab)
My Lords, following on from that, periodically there are news
stories about children racking up bills on their parents’ credit
cards to try to win these in-game upgrades. Although Microsoft
and Sony have taken steps to make it harder for this to happen
via their online stores, there is certainly a case for exploring
additional statutory safeguards, so will the Minister look at
including provisions in the Online Safety Bill to cover the
marketing of and the processes attached to the purchase of loot
boxes?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Baroness is right that parental controls are an
important tool for parents and guardians to supervise and manage
how their children interact with video games. The industry has
taken some action to develop parental controls, and some
companies have also committed to disclose information on the
relative probability of obtaining virtual items. Gaming platforms
will be in the scope of the regulatory framework of the Online
Safety Bill if they host user-generated content or facilitate
online interaction.
(LD)
My Lords, I recently spoke to a member of the gaming industry,
who described loot boxes as a thoroughly nasty, money-making
scheme based on the dopamine hit of playing and levelling up in a
game. You pay for them. Surely that alone should be enough to
justify their being banned.
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, that is why we are looking at the issue of loot boxes
to see what action should be taken. As I have said, some games
companies and platforms have taken steps in the meantime to
improve protections for their consumers since we published the
call for evidence. We will set out our response in due course.
