Health experts highlight gambling's 'disturbing focus' on underage players in gaming

Gambling-like features within games are a main revenue for the gaming industry. File photo: Alamy/PA

The increasing use of gambling-like features in gaming risks fuelling financial harm, gambling addiction and even serious mental health issues, Irish health experts have warned.

They say there is a “pressing need” for gambling laws to be adapted to counter this trend, as the new Irish gambling authority focuses on traditional gambling.

Experts attached to the Mental Health Service in the Midwest said there is often a “disturbing focus” on underage players.

The types of gambling-type activities common in gaming include:

• hyper-realistic worlds where characters gamble in virtual casinos using in-game currency;
• simulated gambling games involving real money;
• players wager in-game tokens for rewards, bet on the outcome of multi-players games;
• ‘microtransactions’, an umbrella term for various low-cost, in-game payments made with real money;
• ‘loot boxes’ are a type of microtransaction where virtual items provide rewards, on the basis of chance, once they are opened by paying real money;
• ‘Freemium’ mobile phone games, which are ‘free to play’ but entice users to pay for ‘premium’ features.

Writing in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, Carlos Sanchez Belmar and Narayanan Subramanian said: “Loot boxes resemble collectible football stickers, where valuable items are often rare and usually require repeated purchases and substantial time and/or money to acquire." 

Their article, Gaming’s hidden gamble: are we betting more than we realise? said research estimates that microtransactions account for over 70% of global gaming market revenue.

It said the games are designed to promote the most persistent of behaviours: “For instance, in certain role-playing games, rare items drop after defeating enemies at unpredictable rates, encouraging players to repeat the same actions for long periods in the hope of eventually being rewarded.

“Controversial loot boxes subject players to heightened anticipation, much like slot machines, through sensory elements such as bursts of colour and acoustic references. These features positively reinforce wins, encouraging further purchases and increasing playtime.” 

The authors said the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland “focuses on traditional gambling activities and does not address loot boxes”.

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Concluding, the authors said: “The escalating integration of gambling-like features in gaming demands urgent action. There is a pressing need to include gambling within gaming under existing legislations in the EU.” 

They said these features exploit the “same psychological triggers that fuel gambling addiction, often with a disturbing focus on underage players who may lack understanding of the consequences”.

They welcomed some recent HSE pilot services, which combine gambling and gaming disorders. “If left unchecked and without adequate support for gamers, these practices will only increase the risks of financial harm, gambling-related behaviours, and serious co-occurring mental health issues,” they said.