Apple is facing a lawsuit for allegedly allowing gambling through loot boxes in App Store games.

Despite Apple apparently acknowledging that in-game loot boxes are a form of gambling, by requiring creators to disclose winning odds, it does not require a notification that loot boxes are contained in a game. 

According to the plaintiff, a disgruntled Californian parent named Rebecca Taylor, this along with the fact that game developers are permitted to set their own age ratings, means it’s possible for games presented as suitable for children to contain gambling. 

Games specifically mentioned in the lawsuit including FIFA, Mario Kart Tour, Roblox, and Brawl Stars. 

Just last week the issue of loot boxes made headlines again in the UK, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport saying it would be looking at whether to officially class them as a gambling product. 

AYO.NEWS says:

As we’ve argued many times here at AYO.NEWS, there’s no fundamental difference between loot boxes and trading cards, and children have always (and will always) engage in some forms of gambling – and that this needs to be recognised, and a sensible line needs to be drawn between pure bookmaker and casino type-gambling, and those games or trading systems that incorporate elements of gambling. 

Simply demanding anything that includes any elements of gambling is treated the same is ridiculous and just another symptom of the ‘nanny state’ climate we’ve stumbled into. 

At the end of the day, kids can’t buy loot boxes or anything else online, without access to electronic payment methods, or gift cards etc. It is parents who are enabling these purchases, and parents need to take much more interest in, and responsibility for, what their children are buying – there are plenty of parental control tools available. 

The real answer here is good parenting and better education, not draconian blanket bans that treat all young people like idiots. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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