Another nation is taking a stand in opposition to lootboxes in video games with Singapore’s newly-created Gambling Regulatory Authority trying to enact stricter laws to fight what it believes to be a “blurring of the lines between gambling and gaming.”
The GRA shall be taking up the regulation of casinos and playing providers, together with lootboxes, from the Casino Regulatory Authority which was established in 2008. Once jurisdiction is transferred, the brand new authorities physique plans to enact new laws for all types of playing. For lootboxes, this features a prize cap of $100 SGD, or roughly $70 USD, which may take impact as early as subsequent yr.
According to Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Second Minister for Home Affairs, the GRA was fashioned to manage the rising entry to on-line playing, which incorporates lootboxes and even cryptocurrency. One counselor notes that there are circumstances the place folks have spent tens of hundreds of {dollars} on the possibility of getting prized objects and rewards from lootboxes. The formation of the brand new regulatory authority has largely been met with reward from each mother and father and the nation’s monetary consultants.
