What is a game of chance? An application to loot boxes
Wessel Oomens · Digital Scholarship - UNLV (University of Nevada Reno) · 2019
The traditional landscape of games of chance such as lotteries, betting, casinos and slots has become intertwined with complex financial products as well as digital games with elements of chance. The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued a guidance paper outlining a five-step decision process in order to determine whether a game classifies as gambling: Threshold: is the number of providers, players and the amount money involved considerable enough to warrant spending resources in assessing the game? Overlap: is there potential overlap with other rules and regulations, in particular those governing financial products? Prize: does the game award its winners with prizes of economic value? Predominant influence: do the game’s elements of chance have a predominant influence relative to players’ skills in determining the game’s outcome? Substitutes: for games that do not meet the prize and predominance criteria, are there potentially similar harms to the public (such as the risk for addiction and crime) as gambling, and does this warrant further policy or legislative measures? In this talk, we discuss the guidance paper and share our experiences in applying it to loot boxes in more detail.