Australian government cracks down on loot boxes and in-game gambling with new age rating proposals
The federal government in Australia today proposed a number of changes to their National Classification Scheme as it seeks to crack down on digital gambling and the video games that promote it. The proposed changes would apply an R18+ rating (over 18) to any game with simulated gambling and an M rating of “adult” (over 15) to any game with paid loot box, has the ability to change the classification for games like FIFA which was previously rated G (for everyone).
Governments Press Release said that the proposed changes would “protect the most vulnerable in our community from the harms of gambling and signal that such games are not appropriate for children.” They also point to published research that “reveals an association between both loot boxes and the harms of simulated gambling, such as problem gambling”.
Reviews from 2020, released todaynote that the original Classification Scheme was issued more than two decades ago when physical media became more prominent and that “the market has changed dramatically since then”, meaning it is time for an update.
For games that include less prominent forms of gambling or include gambling in the service of a larger story, Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said they would have the same policy as games. has a clearer form. “We want to be very clear and very binary on this,” said Rowland, and the certainty provided by a proposal says that if there is simulated gambling in a game, that game must follow a particular rating”. ABC.
The proposal still needs the states and territories to agree, so it’s not a finished deal yet. However, Australia is not the only country with this view. In 2018, Belgium ruled that some loot boxes can be classified as illegal gambling due to their element of chance and players pay and bet for profit or loss. EA originally intended to take the matter to court so they could continue selling FIFA Ultimate Packs, but they ultimately declined.
In 2020 in the UK, the mental health director of the NHS also accused loot boxes of pushing gambling on children “under sight” after the service opens a clinic for addicted youth. Since then, not much has changed in the UK – the government acknowledges the harmful effects of gambling-related loot boxes last summer And legislative threats if the companies don’t strengthen parental controls, but they don’t expand the Gambling Act to include loot boxes.
