Loot boxes are obviously gambling

Re:Loot boxes are obviously gambling by belorn on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @05:09AM (#17177569)

Last time this topic was discussed I saw a very similar question so I had a theory: What if physical card packs is such a small market that government have simply not noticed enough to care to regulate it. I then went and look up the numbers and checked. If I recall right:

Magic the Gathering and Pokemon sat around $500k in realy global market sales. Sport cards a few millions. Game with lootboxes is estimated around a half a billion. Regular gambling estimated around $400 billions.

This make in my view a rather simple answer why Magic the Gathering might not be a big concern for government but why regular gambling really is and why loot boxes currently sit in the middle. To simplify: 1x, 1000x, 1000000x.

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Re:Loot boxes are obviously gambling by oblio on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @05:33AM (#17177681)

Yeah, but the question is: is gambling ramping up at the same rate as games with lootboxes?

Also, gambling is usually restricted, either by location or by age. Are games with lootboxes 18+?

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Re:Loot boxes are obviously gambling by Spellchamp on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @07:58AM (#17178289)

I think the big reason that Magic never ramped up so much is because of the fact that it's a physical pack. You can only buy however much is in stock (at most) and even when you order a booster box or fat pack online, it still has a delay before it arrives. With the online model it's really easy to just keep pulling the lever over and over again and getting an instant response.

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