Australian legislator to propose loot box law

An Australian member of parliament plans to propose a bill to prohibit loot boxes in games for children, as reported by Kotaku.

The Classification Amendment (Loot Box) Bill would ban companies in Australia from targeting minors with loot box sales, and is expected to be introduced to Parliament in August.

The proposed legislation will be introduced by Australian member of parliament Andrew Wilkie.

“We as a country accept that people over the age of 18 can gamble but let’s make that for adults and giving parents a warning,” the independent MP told the Daily Telegraph.

Wilkie’s bill would require games with lootboxes to have an adults only (R18+) rating.

These games would also receive new advisory details along with their ratings. This would be similar to games advising they contain strong language, strong violence, etc.

Wilkie was concerned that loot boxes may be conditioning children to enjoy gambling, even if that was not the game makers’ intent.

“To allow very young children to pay cash for a randomised event that may or may not reward them that would meet any definition of gambling,” Wilkie said.