I’d like to share some thoughts on the differences between loot boxes and gambling:

• You always GAIN something from loot boxes. Whereas in gambling, there is also the possibly that you may LOSE as well.
• You can’t gain financially from loot boxes as you do in gambling. Putting money into a loot box never gives you money in return like gambling does.

Even though these two things don’t match the criteria for gambling that you listed in this tread, they are two significant differences. In this way, loot boxes are more similar to baseball cards (hockey cards here in Canada 😊), rather than gambling.

Although there is currently no legislation in Canada or the USA on the regulation of loot boxes, the ESA boards have stopped gaming companies from producing skill-based gains from loot boxes. So, players who purchase these will no longer advance in the game, but only have opportunities to gain items to assist their quests or “skins” (aesthetics). The ESA boards are also moving towards disclosing the odds getting a chosen item within the loot boxes prior to purchase (something better than baseball card companies offer!).

With all of this aside, if the main concern with loot boxes and gambling is that people are concerned that loot boxes are causing players to become more “addicted” to video gaming, research shows that player motivations to play more and play for longer periods of time rarely have anything to do with the chance an item will drop from a loot box.