Given the current sentiment coming from U.K. lawmakers regarding all things gambling, the latest decision taken by the House of Lords shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The parliamentary body, through its Gambling Committee, has decided that loot boxes are definitively a type of gambling and, as such, should be regulated and taxed as such. The decision follows the review of an impact study that had already decided that the video game offerings are the same as a game of chance. 

According to a report (in pdf) prepared by the House of Lords committee, which was published yesterday, loot boxes offer “a virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a further randomized virtual item, such as a customization option for a player’s character or additional weapons and armor. Typically, players pay for the loot box itself or receive the box during the game and later buy a ‘key’ to redeem it.”

The subject has been the center of debate for the past couple of years, with different countries taking different positions on their status as a form of gambling. Loot boxes always offer some type of reward, whether it be something as simple as a skin or something as complex as an advanced weapon. They can be purchased in video games, but can also be acquired by completing certain tasks or collecting enough points to buy them. 

As a result of the loot boxes being seen as a “game of chance,” the committee asserts that they are unequivocally a form of gambling. As such, it states, “We recommend that Ministers should make regulations under section 6(6) of the Gambling Act 2005 specifying that loot boxes and any other similar games are games of chance, without waiting for the Government’s wider review of the Gambling Act.”