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Are Loot Boxes in Games a Violation of Gambling Laws?

posted by cmn32480 on Monday January 08 2018, @03:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the 1-in-365,214,231-chance-of-getting-the-good-stuff dept.

Bill Dimm writes:

Loot boxes in video games give the player a random item, perhaps a weapon or a skin, typically in exchange for payment. Should they be viewed as a legal sweepstakes or as an illegal lottery? This video examines the legal issues and explains how loot boxes could be structured to avoid running afoul of gambling laws (which vary by state) in the U.S.. The video concludes that many current implementations of loot boxes are really illegal lotteries, and conjectures that major game companies use them anyway because the risk of being prosecuted isn't enough to dissuade them.

Previously: Belgium Moving to Ban "Loot Boxes" Throughout Europe, Hawaii Could Restrict Sale to Minors

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 08 2018, @05:42PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 08 2018, @05:42PM (#619594) Journal

    You can't protect someone from himself. But you can and probably should protect him from being taken advantage of. Now where to draw the line is not easy.

    If someone messes up their life and becomes unemployable by, let's just say, gaming, is that worse than if they used drugs instead to destroy their life? We pass laws against (certain) drugs. Maybe we shouldn't? We don't pass laws against gamers. Maybe we should? Probably not as they seem to be harmless except the swatters.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @07:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @07:43PM (#619657)

    you can and probably should protect him from being taken advantage of. Now where to draw the line is not easy.

    Line-drawing is quite easy: when someone lies to someone else and profits from it, that crosses the line into criminal fraud.

    Good news! We already have laws against fraud.