The Spanish government is preparing to regulate loot boxes "before the end of the year".
The General Director of Gaming, Mikel Arana, announced today in Congress that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs will include as gambling the so-called video game reward boxes, also known as loot boxes: virtual packages with which users (often minors) pay small amounts of money for a random prize in a video game, usually via mobile phone.
The logic used by the ministry is that, in practice, these instruments, widely used by the video game industry to retain the user by unlocking achievements that allow progress in the development of the game, are equivalent to betting and can incite compulsive consuming behaviors associated with chance, similar to those of a slot machine.
This may affect all products which contain a random content or prize.
A product with random prizes, used in the Rising Star game.
Their thesis is that this may represent a new gateway to the consumption of games of chance by children and adolescents, often without knowledge of their parents, who are unaware that the video game (which is usually free) incorporates those kinds of harmful dynamics.
Mikel Arana, General Director of Gaming in Spain
Regarding the supposed increase in illegal online gambling, Arana has denied an increase in it. He explained that the General Management of Gaming has blocked more than 3,600 domains since 2016, but that does not mean that there are so many clandestine operators: The Spanish government has "detected" 59 operators that are acting without a license in Spain.
Will this affect blockchain-based gaming platforms? Yes? No? Why? How? Your opinion is appreciated!
Source: El Diario