The Dutch Gaming Authority has officially said ‘no’ to loot boxes that violate their country’s gambling laws. Recently the Netherlands country gaming commission investigated ten popular games with loot boxes, six of these games seemed to have gotten a pass, however, four of them were not so lucky.
According to public news agency NOS, the four games that were found to violate the gambling laws have eight weeks to make significant changes to their loot boxes, making sure they comply with the Better Gaming Act. If these demands are ignored then the regulating body can impose fines on the company, as well as prohibit the game from being sold in the Netherlands. Not only would that look bad on the company, but it would also hurt their wallet too.
There has been no confirmation on which four games managed to violate the gambling laws, however, if the games loot boxes are not modified then they “will be announced” to the public. Though we may not know for definite which games were tested, the NOS report mentioned that some of the games tested were Dota 2, FIFA 18, PUBG, and Rocket League.
While six of the ten investigated were found to include loot boxes that were not tradeable, and thus complied with the gambling laws, the Dutch Gaming Authority was still apparently critical over how loot boxes were being implemented in general. They likened them to “the use of slot machines” and “roulette,” and expressed their concern on how it could affect young players and drive them to gamble at an early age.
The Netherlands isn’t the first country that has taken a stand against loot boxes, and from the looks of it, it doesn’t seem as though it will be the last either. But what do you think? Would you wager a guess on which video games violated the gambling laws? Let us know in the comments below.
