The issue of skins gambling has been on our radar for some time now. To recap briefly, this occurs when gamers uncover loot boxes or other repositories hidden within the game that contain skins – basically a way to make a player’s in-game character more unique and powerful. Some of these skins are very rare and valuable, so players holding them often transfer the skins to third party platforms where they can trade or gamble them for real money or better skins. There are an estimated 6 billion such virtual skins now available, with a collective estimated value of £10 billion, although many are worth very little.
The emergence of this market has led several nations, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, to declare certain loot boxes illegal and ban the games associated with them. Some of these games are pretty high-profile and mainstream games from major developers, such as FIFA 18 and Overwatch, both from EA games. France recently declared that loot boxes are not gambling, but still acknowledge them to be a major issue, saying that they can serve as a gambling “apprenticeship.”
In the UK, a recent expose by the Telegraph covered a Parent Zone investigation into the activity associated with these skins. It found that over 400,000 British teenagers had become involved with illegal underage skins gambling on third party software and that 10% of 13-18-year-olds surveyed admitted gambling on casino, esports, betting or mystery box games. Extrapolated to the total population, this amounts to almost 450,000 children.
Faced with this, some entities in the gaming world are beginning to take important steps on the matter. Since Steam put a seven-day freeze on players’ ability to trade new items and skins a few years ago, the market for skins gambling has reduced from £3.7 billion to £316 million between 2016 and 2017. Still, the Parent Zone survey found that almost 50% of children surveyed said they could access 18+ gambling options with ease, and some observers still hold Steam accountable, since Steam arguably created the skins market in the first place.
Steam has issued cease-and-desist orders to some third parties and shut down some user accounts associated with a lot of trading, but this is an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon. Third parties abound, and they are relentless in trying to access this market. Some even use fake Steam logos to give a false sense of legitimacy. Many players of these games are young, impressionable, and not well informed of the dangers. Ultimately, this likely is an incubator for creating problem gamblers at an age when they should not have to fear being exposed to any such risks. The lines between gaming and gambling are only set to become more blurred as both industries develop, technology becomes more pervasive, and children become ever more tech-savvy. Steam’s move is a nice start, but more will eventually need to be done.
