The new and long awaited Gambling Control Bill that will be presented to the Irish Parliament in the next year will not include legislation specifically on "loot boxes" in video games, despite signing a declaration on the subject at the Gaming Regulators European Forum recently.
The Irish Government has an inter-departmental working group on gambling completing a review of the 2013 proposals for a new gambling bill and its report should be submitted to the government towards the end of this year.
But despite no apparent plans to crack down on loot boxes, David Stanton [pictured], minister of state in the Department of Justice, last week went on record as pointing out that the GREF declaration did not have any legal effect. It did however highlight concerns about the impact of online gaming. It also condemned loot boxes as "blurring the lines between gaming and gambling."
Some European countries have taken action on games with loot boxes because they feel that games permitting loot box contents to be sold for cash is facilitating gambling. The Belgian justice minister has called for an EU ban on loot boxes.
Where Ireland is concerned, Stanton said: “Where a game offers the possibility of placing a bet or the taking of risk for financial reward within the game, then, in my view it must be licensed as a gambling product. To offer gambling products in Ireland, a license is required under the Betting Acts 1931-2015 or the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956. The Revenue Commissioners are the primary responsible licensing authority under both Acts, with some involvement of the Minister for Justice and Equality.
“However, it should be understood, that if a game offers in-game purchases – be they loot boxes, skins, etc. - which are promoted to gamers as increasing their chances of success, such purchases are essentially a commercial or e-commerce activity. This activity would fall within normal consumer law.”
He added that his department did not have a role to regulate game developers on how their games work, nor in the offering of in-game purchases.
