ArticlePloS one2023
What are the odds? Poor compliance with UK loot box probability disclosure industry self-regulation.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Widespread Suspected Illegal Advertising of Paid Loot Boxes and Social Casino Games in Belgium: Empowered by the EU Digital Services Act to Assess Compliance Using Meta's Ad Repository.European addiction research · 2026Article
- Study protocol: seeking treatment for gambling - a 10-year retrospective clinical and register study of gambling patterns and physical and psychiatric comorbidity in patients with gambling disorder.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Unpacking non-transparency: Most physical trading card game and collectible sports card packs failed to disclose probabilities for winning rare prizes.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Article
- Psychological mechanisms in video game monetization: A typology of contemporary strategies beyond loot boxes.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Review
- Gambling and screening for gambling problems in high school students before and after legal gambling age: associations with gender and gambling-related attitudes.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Net Promoter Score inversion may signal problematic digital use.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Better than industry self-regulation: Compliance of mobile games with newly adopted and actively enforced loot box probability disclosure law in South Korea.Acta psychologica · 2025Article
- Widespread illegal video game advertising in the UK and South Korea: Many adverts not disclosing loot box presence found using Meta's ad repository.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Article
- Impact of Spanish gambling regulations on online gambling behavior and marketing strategies.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Non-compliance with and non-enforcement of UK loot box industry self-regulation on the Apple App Store: a longitudinal study on poor implementation.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Exploring the relationships between psychological variables and loot box engagement, part 1: pre-registered hypotheses.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- A scoping review of the association between loot boxes, esports, skin betting, and token wagering with gambling and video gaming behaviors.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2023Article
- Opening Pandora's Loot Box: Weak Links Between Gambling and Loot Box Expenditure in China, and Player Opinions on Probability Disclosures and Pity-Timers.Journal of gambling studies · 2023Article
- Reserve your judgment on "Draconian" Chinese video gaming restrictions on children •.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Loot boxes are purchased in video games to obtain randomised rewards of varying value and are thus psychologically akin to gambling. Disclosing the probabilities of obtaining loot box rewards may reduce overspending, in a similar vein to related disclosure approaches in gambling. Presently, this consumer protection measure has been adopted as law only in the People's Republic of China (PRC). In other countries, the videogaming industry has generally adopted this measure as self-regulation. However, self-regulation conflicts with commercial interests and might not maximally promote public welfare. The loot box prevalence rate amongst the 100 highest-grossing UK iPhone games was 77% in mid-2021. The compliance rate with probability disclosure industry self-regulation was only 64.0%, significantly lower than that of PRC legal regulation (95.6%). In addition, UK games generally made insufficiently prominent and difficult-to-access disclosures both in-game and on the game's official website. Significantly fewer UK games disclosed probabilities on their official websites (21.3%) when compared to 72.5% of PRC games. Only one of 75 UK games (1.3%) adopted the most prominent disclosure format of automatically displaying the probabilities on the in-game purchase page. Policymakers should demand more accountable forms of industry self-regulation or impose direct legal regulation to ensure consumer protection.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.