The House of Lords has published a report recommending the UK Government should reclassify loot boxes as gambling.
The House of Lords Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry says the government "must act immediately to bring loot boxes within the remit of gambling legislation and regulation". Alongside recommendations for other gambling concerns, the report argues loot boxes should be classified as "games of chance", which means they would fall under the Gambling Act of 2005 and be regulated by the Gambling Commission.
While the UK Government previously promised it would "focus on issues around loot boxes" as part of a potential overhaul to the Gambling Act (and last month called for evidence), the loot box section of the House of Lords report argues the issue "requires more urgent attention". It recommends ministers "should make regulations under section 6(6) of the Gambling Act 2005 specifying that loot boxes and any other similar games are games of chance, without waiting for the government's wider review of the Gambling Act". It also recommends ministers should be given the power "to specify by regulations that any activity which in their view has the characteristics of gambling should be treated as gambling for the purposes of the Act".