An Australian parliamentary committee has recommended restrictions on loot boxes.
As revealed in the Protecting The Age of Innocence report, the recommendation includes a mandatory age check. It is one of six recommendations made by the committee.
Specifically, "the committee recommends that the Office of the eSafety Commissioner or other relevant government department report to the Australian Government on options for restricting access to loot boxes and other simulated gambling elements in computer and video games to adults aged 18 years or over, including through the use of mandatory age verification."
On top of this, the committee would like parents to have access to more resources that explain the effects of online gambling. It has been indicated that parents and guardians are the ones to expose young people to online gambling.
Mental health
In January 2020, a mental health director for the NHS urged game developers to ban loot boxes. Claire Murdoch claimed that these games encourage children to gamble. In September 2019, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee recommended loot boxes be regulated in the UK as gambling.
In April 2018, Belgium legally declared loot boxes as gambling — thus making it illegal in the country. Starting this year, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will require games to disclose loot box odds.