{"id":21391,"date":"2021-08-11T13:43:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T16:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=21391"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:44:51","slug":"australia-calls-for-controls-on-loot-boxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-calls-for-controls-on-loot-boxes","title":{"rendered":"Australia: calls for controls on loot boxes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anti-gambling campaigners have called for stricter measures on video games that offer loot boxes to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.-\u00a0Jum Sauer<\/strong>, a researcher from the University of Tasmania, has claimed while other countries have started to\u00a0regulate loot boxes in video games<\/strong>, Australia remains behind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sauer admitted there was not enough evidence about the relationship between video games with loot boxes and possible gambling harm<\/strong>. However, he highlighted that people who are predisposed to developing gambling addictions usually spent more money on loot boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts have said that the\u00a0Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in gaming and gambling\u00a0<\/strong>as a way of coping with stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Wilkie<\/strong>, an independent federal member of parliament, has said the Australian government should increase measures regarding video games with loot boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australians do not use gambling harm-reduction tools<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A study by the University of Sydney\u2019s Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic (GTRC)<\/strong> reported that gambling harm minimisation tools<\/a> implemented by the government have had little impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research focused on self-exclusion<\/strong> and deposit limit tools<\/strong>. It found that the first tool affected online gambling behaviour but that players don\u2019t use the tool if it\u2019s voluntary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for deposit limits, 6,000 people who used the tool stuck to the limits <\/strong>for about a year, while one in four decided to change their betting limits to make them less restrictive. One in eight gamblers unsubscribed from the programme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, Sally Gainsbury<\/strong>, one of the study\u2019s authors, said the self-exclusion and betting limit tools had proved to be successful.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the number of people who set a deposit limit for gambling increased after the introduction of the self-exclusion system<\/strong>. She added that the results could encourage authorities to take other measures to promote safer gambling behaviour<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anti-gambling campaigners have called for stricter measures on video games that offer loot boxes to children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Anti-gambling advocates and academic researchers are pressing for enhanced regulatory oversight of video game loot boxes in Australia, highlighting the nation's lag in adopting international standards despite ongoing debate regarding direct links to gambling harm. Concurrently, an analysis of Australia's existing responsible gambling tools, specifically self-exclusion and deposit limits, indicates mixed efficacy, with voluntary mechanisms demonstrating limited impact, yet overall adoption rates showing improvement post-system integration.","focusai_entities":"Jum Sauer, University of Tasmania, Andrew Wilkie, University of Sydney\u2019s Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic (GTRC), Sally Gainsbury","focusai_location":"Australia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), product_ux (0.75), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Loot Box Regulation Timeline?","query":"What specific legislative actions are anticipated from the Australian government regarding loot box regulation, and what is the projected timeline for implementation across gaming verticals?"},{"label":"Future RG Frameworks Impact?","query":"How will the identified limitations of voluntary self-exclusion and deposit limits influence the design and mandatory implementation of future responsible gambling frameworks for licensed operators in Australia?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[512],"class_list":["post-21391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-gaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21419,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21391\/revisions\/21419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}