Boards›General Discussion

Lootboxes are not gambling.

Colonel J·11/28/2017, 6:56:56 AM·2 votes·1,415 views

At least not in the U.S.

Under 31 U.S. Code § 5362 (E) exemptions to wagers include, " (viii) participation in any game or contest in which participants do not stake or risk anything of value other than— (II) points or credits that the sponsor of the game or contest provides to participants free of charge and that can be used or redeemed only for participation in games or contests offered by the sponsor"

Right there. US law. The fact that credits and lootboxes can be used only in the game and not in real life = no gambling.

The fact that EA offers sale of credits is immaterial, as it "provides [credits] to participants free of charge" through play.

Just ask yourself, wouldn't the huge corporation of EA have lawyers upon lawyers making sure lootboxes were not legally gambling? Would EA just leave that HUGE liability up to chance? No. EA is a smart and brilliant company.

Long live EA!

[slayer-jinx-wink] [slayer-jinx-wink] [slayer-jinx-wink]

http://i.imgs.fyi/img/1ypr.png

49 Comments

ModIts Yuu and Mi11/28/2017, 7:26:18 AM9 votes

https://s17.postimg.org/3wpmy8wm7/3f3591ece02c3c6b65b7745c7fb38c227a69c59ae335de77.png

Kythers11/28/2017, 7:02:59 AM8 votes

free of charge

[poppy-wink]

2nd Chance11/28/2017, 7:03:26 AM7 votes

Shut up Colonel J

ModJikker11/28/2017, 4:22:07 PM3 votes

https://i.imgflip.com/qtptj.jpg?a419832

RedPannda11/28/2017, 8:22:31 AM3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Colonel J,realm=NA,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=1zibwBc3,comment-id=,timestamp=2017-11-28T06:56:56.351+0000)

At least not in the U.S.

Under 31 U.S. Code § 5362 (E) exemptions to wagers include, " (viii) participation in any game or contest in which participants do not stake or risk anything of value other than— (II) points or credits that the sponsor of the game or contest provides to participants free of charge and that can be used or redeemed only for participation in games or contests offered by the sponsor"

Right there. US law. The fact that credits and lootboxes can be used only in the game and not in real life = no gambling.

The fact that EA offers sale of credits is immaterial, as it "provides [credits] to participants free of charge" through play.

Just ask yourself, wouldn't the huge corporation of EA have lawyers upon lawyers making sure lootboxes were not legally gambling? Would EA just leave that HUGE liability up to chance? No. EA is a smart and brilliant company.

Long live EA!

[slayer-jinx-wink] [slayer-jinx-wink] [slayer-jinx-wink]

http://i.imgs.fyi/img/1ypr.png

https://i.imgur.com/muwNSFr.jpg[/img]

Destaice11/29/2017, 4:21:32 PM2 votes

Lootboxes can be gambling depending on the system.

For something to be gambling there has to be a risk of loss for a smaller chance at a greater reward.

Simply buying a random prize doesn't make something gambling.

GigglesO11/28/2017, 7:03:42 AM2 votes

If you purchase them it is not "free of charge". The loot boxes that they provide would therefor not be considered gambling, but via interpretation there is still the possibility of purchased loot boxes as being gambling.

Then again you can see a lot of things as gambling such as insurance. Do you take it out because you might need it, or because you know you will need it? If its for the first "might" then it is gambling.

Busty Demoness11/28/2017, 7:05:34 AM2 votes

Riot Points can only be obtained with real money.

Riot points would still be considered points "not obtained free of charge". Hextech chests currently have one workaround and that's being obtained through S rank games on a variety of champions. However, the workaround is the only legal means to obtain Hextech Chests.

CLG ear11/28/2017, 7:11:21 AM1 votes

get banned

NiamhNyx11/28/2017, 7:20:51 AM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Colonel J,realm=NA,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=1zibwBc3,comment-id=,timestamp=2017-11-28T06:56:56.351+0000)

At least not in the U.S.

Under 31 U.S. Code § 5362 (E) exemptions to wagers include, " (viii) participation in any game or contest in which participants do not stake or risk anything of value other than— (II) points or credits that the sponsor of the game or contest provides to participants free of charge and that can be used or redeemed only for participation in games or contests offered by the sponsor"

Right there. US law. The fact that credits and lootboxes can be used only in the game and not in real life = no gambling.

The fact that EA offers sale of credits is immaterial, as it "provides [credits] to participants free of charge" through play.

Just ask yourself, wouldn't the huge corporation of EA have lawyers upon lawyers making sure lootboxes were not legally gambling? Would EA just leave that HUGE liability up to chance? No. EA is a smart and brilliant company.

Long live EA!

[slayer-jinx-wink] [slayer-jinx-wink] [slayer-jinx-wink]

http://i.imgs.fyi/img/1ypr.png

If EA is such a brilliant company why did they shit themselves when Disney did not like the reviews that the new starwars game was getting? They know they are doing shit that shouldn't be, but most gamers just let them sadly. Sounds familar.

Rand0mH3r0X11/28/2017, 7:03:24 AM1 votes

The work around is not gambling with money, but buying a gamble.

notFREEfood11/28/2017, 7:39:09 AM1 votes

participants do not stake or risk anything of value other than— (II) points or credits that the sponsor of the game or contest provides to participants free of charge

I'm pretty sure that lootboxes do actually run afoul of this the way EA implemented them. The way I read this is that if you pay for the tokens it is considered gambling if you make a "wager" with them as you are risking points or credits that have not been provided free of charge.

This is why all of those contests that you see attached to buying a product say "no purchase necessary." This means that the token itself is provided free of charge and thus it is not gambling.

This is also why at least for the mystery gifts riot ensured that you got a skin of greater value than the RP you paid for it - by ensuring that the point value was always greater than the amount spent you therefore aren't risking anything.

If I pay real money for a lootbox, then the minimum "real money" value I get out of it mus be greater than or equal to the amount of money I spent on it. Anything else is gambling.

Kinkou Order11/28/2017, 8:15:07 AM1 votes

Considering that many states have the Lottery and a couple have straight up gambling that does not hide behind another name what is the big deal?

Shroom Merchant11/28/2017, 7:09:26 AM1 votes

let me guess u support Pay 2 Win

TwitchInMyPants11/28/2017, 4:05:55 PM1 votes

Our resident troll strikes again

And people are legit debating in this thread lul

SEKAI11/28/2017, 7:09:07 AM1 votes

Laws change over time. It's pretty clear at some point in time, lootboxes will be considered a form of gambling and regulated accordingly. The game industry brought this one top of themselves, really, considering it was completely unregulated and they had to take the piss and give birth to the hilariously obnoxious lootbox culture that pushes the boundary so far even law makers who specialise in fields not related to games have actually caught a wind of it.

Teslyn11/29/2017, 3:44:19 PM1 votes

its gambling. just because you change the currency and the reward. it is gambling and should only be for people 18 and up. this game needs an age restriction.

SupaDevilJuice11/29/2017, 3:57:38 PM1 votes

I guess we can make bait threads again.

Go out people, annoy others!

Windows OS11/29/2017, 4:10:45 PM1 votes

Posting in a Colonel J thread

Glîtchy11/28/2017, 7:03:56 AM1 votes

Yeah, smart enough to think a 4 hour campaign for the latest star wars battlefront was a good selling point, it wasn't even good.