Regulators are age-gating loot boxes
Loot boxes are paid items with random contents. Some countries ban them, some make publishers show the odds, and some say they are not gambling. Age ratings are the approach that is spreading, and publishers now change or withdraw games market by market.
What are loot boxes?
A loot box is a mystery package inside a game. You pay for it with real money or in-game currency, but you do not know what is inside until you open it. People have argued for years about whether paying for a surprise prize counts as gambling. Governments have stopped waiting for that argument to end and are starting to set rules, such as age limits, on their own.
Where it stands
Brazil banned loot boxes in games children can reach in March 2026, and Belgium has treated them as gambling since 2018. South Korea requires the odds to be published, and in the first study of the law 84% of top-earning games with loot boxes did so. Australia rates such games M at minimum. From June 2026 PEGI rates new ones 16 across most of Europe, while Germany rates case by case through its own body. The Netherlands ruled in 2022 that loot boxes are not gambling, and the UK and Japan rely on the industry's own rules. So the same game carries different ratings, and different obligations, depending on where it is sold.
| Market | Regulation | Requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | In force | In force since 17 March 2026. A game under-18s can access must switch paid loot boxes off for players not proven adult, or offer a version without them. Fines reach 10% of a company's Brazilian revenue. | Law 15211 (Brazil), via the Justice Ministry's ECA Digital FAQ 2026 |
| South Korea | In force | Publishers must disclose the odds of paid random items. The regulator asked for 266 corrections in the law's first 100 days, and on 1 October 2026 it went further: after Soul Guide ignored six corrective requests, GRAC gave public notice that the game's distribution in Korea could be restricted, and is pursuing penalties with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. | |
| Belgium | In force | Paid loot boxes count as games of chance and are banned without a license. The ban has proved hard to enforce. | |
| Australia | In force | Games with paid loot boxes are rated M at minimum, and games with simulated gambling are restricted to R 18+. | |
| Germany | Rated case by case | Germany rates games through its own body, the USK, not PEGI. Since January 2023 the USK weighs loot boxes when it sets a rating and labels them on the box. EA Sports FC went from USK 0 to USK 12. The USK states no fixed minimum. | |
| UK | Self-regulation, plus PEGI 16 | No law covers loot boxes. The government declined to legislate in 2022 and relies on the industry's own principles, which ask for parental consent before under-18s buy. PEGI's 16 rating applies to new games from June 2026. | |
| EU | In force | From June 2026 PEGI rates newly submitted games with paid random items 16 by default in the countries that use it, which do not include Germany. | PEGI 2026 |
| Japan | No age gate | Publishers cap costs or display odds under the industry body JOGA's self-regulation guideline, which sets no age threshold. | JOGA 2012 |
| Netherlands | Not gambling | The 2022 Council of State ruling found packs cannot be assessed as a separate game, so loot boxes are not prohibited gambling. | |
| USA | Contested | Suits calling loot boxes gambling have mostly failed, though some remain live. | Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2024 (GamesIndustry.biz) |
| Spain | A bill, not yet law | A ban on minors' access to loot boxes sits in a wider bill on protecting children online, first approved by the cabinet in June 2024. Its drafting committee was set up in April 2026, with the stated aim of passing it by the end of the year. | |
| Poland | A bill, stalled | Members of parliament filed a bill in December 2025 to treat loot boxes as gambling for adults only, requiring a permit. Seven of them withdrew their signatures in March 2026 after a letter from the state lottery company. |
Timeline
2017
Battlefront II sets off the row
Star Wars Battlefront II's paid loot boxes set off what the Belgian regulator later called a worldwide conflict over paying to progress inside a game.
Belgian Gaming Commission, Research Report on Loot Boxes (April 2018)
2018
Belgium calls paid loot boxes games of chance
The Belgian Gaming Commission found the paid loot boxes in Overwatch, FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to be games of chance, and said operators who keep selling them risk prosecution.
Belgian Gaming Commission, Research Report on Loot Boxes (April 2018)
2022
Dutch court sides with EA
The Netherlands' highest administrative court decided EA's appeal in its favor, finding that FIFA's packs are not a separate game that can be assessed as gambling. The regulator's 2018 position and its fine fell with the ruling.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2022 (GamesIndustry.biz)
UK declines to call loot boxes gambling
The UK Government's response to its loot box consultation declined to bring paid loot boxes inside the definition of gambling, and asked the industry to keep under-18s from buying them without parental consent.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2022 (GamesIndustry.biz)
2023
USK rates loot box games 12+
Under rules updated for 2023, Germany's USK rated every game with loot boxes it reviewed that year USK 12 at minimum, including games whose earlier annual editions had been USK 0.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2024 (GamesIndustry.biz)
2024
Korea's disclosure law takes effect
South Korea's amendment to the Game Industry Promotion Act, adopted in March 2023, took effect on 22 March 2024 and made probability disclosure for paid random items a legal requirement.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2023 (Stanford TTLF Working Paper 110)
Australia sets a minimum M
Australia's new classifications took effect on 22 September 2024: a minimum M for games with paid loot boxes, and R 18+ for games with simulated gambling.
Korea's regulator asks for 266 corrections in 100 days
In the first 100 days of the disclosure law, South Korea's games regulator monitored 1,255 cases and asked for corrections in 266 of them. Of those, 185 were fixed and five were passed up for binding orders.
2025
The US regulator settles with Genshin Impact's maker
The Federal Trade Commission's settlement requires the game to block under-16s from buying loot boxes without a parent's consent and to show prices in real money. The commissioner who now chairs the agency dissented from its wider loot box counts.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2025 (GamesIndustry.biz)
PEGI lowers Balatro from 18 to 12 on appeal
PEGI had rated Balatro, a card game with no real money in it, 18 because it teaches poker hands. On appeal it cut the rating to 12, citing the game's 'mitigating fantastical elements', and said it would keep 18 for games that simulate realistic casino gambling.
2026
Brazil's loot box ban takes effect
Brazil's Law 15211 came into force on 17 March 2026, banning loot boxes in games aimed at or likely to be accessed by under-18s, with fines of up to 10% of Brazilian revenue.
PEGI moves paid random items to 16+
PEGI, the ratings body used across most of Europe, announces on 12 March 2026 that newly submitted games with paid random items will be rated 16 by default from June, and in some cases 18. Germany rates its games separately and is not covered.
The European Commission proposes that app stores age-rate every game
Under the draft KIDS Act adopted on 17 September 2026, app stores must age-rate every app, including videogames, with a published methodology, must not let children access or buy apps inappropriate for their age, and must carry the EU age verification app. It would place a legal duty on the stores rather than on the rating bodies, alongside the existing PEGI and USK systems. It is a proposal.
European Commission, The KIDS Act explained (17 September 2026)
Consequences
012024
Same game, four ratings
EA Sports FC 25 received four different age ratings across the world because of loot box rules: ESRB E, PEGI 3, ACB M and USK 12. Companies have also removed loot boxes from Belgian versions of games, or withdrawn games from Belgium, to avoid the law there.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2024 (GamesIndustry.biz)
022024
Korea's law gets most games to publish their odds
In the first study of the law, 84.4% of the top-earning Korean iPhone games with loot boxes disclosed their odds. The same researchers had found 64.0% in the UK and 34.9% in the Netherlands, where disclosure is left to the industry. China, which also requires it by law, scored 96.9%.
Objections
Counterpoint2024
Published odds are not the same as odds a player sees
Only 40.8% of the Korean games that disclosed their odds made them reasonably easy to find. The study looked at games, not at players, so nobody has measured whether players read or understand the odds.
Counterpoint2025
Bans have not been enforced
Leon Xiao, who reviews loot box rules each year, argues that bans for under-18s are almost certainly unenforceable. Belgium's failed, he writes, because its regulator had little or no resources to monitor and enforce the law.
Leon Y. Xiao, Loot Box State of Play 2025 (GamesIndustry.biz)
What to watch
2026
New York's case against Valve
New York's attorney general sued Valve in February 2026, calling its loot boxes illegal gambling, and a motion to dismiss is pending. The federal regulator has brought no loot box case since January 2025, so the states are where the US position is being tested.
2026
Two EU instruments, and paid random items sit between them
The last quarter of 2026, when the European Commission's work program schedules its proposal for a Digital Fairness Act. A committee of the European Parliament asked in October 2025 for it to cover loot boxes. The Commission has not said whether it will. The separate KIDS Act it adopted on 17 September 2026 requires games to be safe by design with no spending traps. Whether that reaches paid random items is unsettled.
European Commission, The KIDS Act explained (17 September 2026)
Further reading
- ReportingAll games with loot boxes in them will be rated minimum PEGI 16, starting this summervideogameschronicle.com
- ResearchSouth Korea's loot box law shows strong results, but players still left in the darktechxplore.com
- CommunityTIL, in Brazil, most gacha games are +18 due to the loot box mechanicx.com
Where to follow it Leon Y. Xiao's annual 'Loot Box State of Play' papers, Gaming Law Review, PEGI/ESRB notices, national regulators (Belgian Gaming Commission, Kansspelautoriteit)
- Old games take most of players' time
- Older players are a large audience the industry overlooks
- Campaigners are pressing to keep sold games playable
- Players are using review scores as a protest vote
- Governments are weighing legal caps on children's playtime
- Children's privacy rules are nudging games toward checking every player's age
- Problem-gaming research is shifting from hours to compulsion
- China is using game approvals as a policy dial