{"id":8543,"date":"2020-07-29T22:19:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T22:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=8543"},"modified":"2026-04-24T03:13:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:13:54","slug":"nsw-warns-loot-boxes-encourage-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/nsw-warns-loot-boxes-encourage-gambling","title":{"rendered":"NSW warns loot boxes encourage gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research by Central Queensland University finds young adults are more likely to gamble if exposed to in-game purchases and loot boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- The New South Wales Government\u2019s Responsible Gambling Fund has issued a warning on the dangers of loot boxes in creating gambling problems among young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study of 1,954 people conducted by Central Queensland University (CQU) concluded young adults are more likely to gamble if exposed to in-game purchases and loot boxes in video games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director of the Office of Responsible Gambling, Natalie Wright, said: \u201cLoot boxes can resemble gambling since players invest time and sometimes money in obtaining them, then receive a random reward of uncertain value such as weapons or outfits for their characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are a growing concern because of the risk and reward elements associated with them that is similar to gambling and there are currently no age limits to play these games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CQU found that 62 per cent of the games adolescents played offered loot boxes, and about a third of respondents had purchased a loot box in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The median monthly expenditure on loot boxes for adolescents aged 12 to 17 was AU$50, and AU$72 for young adults aged 18 to 24 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of those surveyed, 93 per cent had played at least one game with loot boxes within the last 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The university concluded that compared to other purchasers, those aged 18 to 24 were more likely to have gambling problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young people who had either opened, bought or sold loot boxes within the last 12 months were also more likely to have gambled in that period, gambled more frequently, spending more, and suffering more gambling problems and gambling-related harm<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research by Central Queensland University finds young adults are more likely to gamble if exposed to in-game purchases and loot boxes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Research by Central Queensland University, commissioned by the New South Wales Government\u2019s Responsible Gambling Fund, indicates a strong correlation between exposure to and purchase of in-game loot boxes and increased gambling propensity and related harm among young adults. The study highlights significant monthly expenditure on loot boxes by adolescents and young adults, prompting a warning regarding their gambling-like mechanics and lack of age restrictions. This raises critical questions for regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders concerning product classification and youth protection.","focusai_entities":"Central Queensland University, New South Wales Government\u2019s Responsible Gambling Fund, Office of Responsible Gambling, Natalie Wright","focusai_location":"Australia, New South Wales","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.75), product_ux (0.85), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Scope Expansion?","query":"Given the CQU findings, what specific legislative amendments or new regulatory frameworks are the New South Wales Government and other jurisdictions considering to classify and control loot boxes as a form of gambling?"},{"label":"Operator Product Strategy?","query":"How will iGaming operators and B2C gaming companies adjust their product development and monetization strategies to mitigate risks associated with potential reclassification of loot boxes and enhanced youth protection mandates?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,153],"tags":[289],"class_list":["post-8543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-igaming-news","tag-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21079,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions\/21079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}