The Belgian ‘ban’ on 

loot boxes did NOT work

• 82% of the 100 highest-grossing iPhone games on the BELGIAN Apple App Store still sold loot boxes for REAL-WORLD MONEY.

• Cite as: Xiao, L.Y. (2023). Breaking Ban: Belgium’s Ineffective Gambling Law Regulation of Video Game Loot Boxes. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), Article 57641. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.57641. 

• This study has now been peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Registered Reports: https://rr.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec?id=264

Policy Impact:

• In a 2024 report, the Belgian Gaming Commission admitted “this generalized ban [on paid loot boxes] proved difficult to enforce” (p. 1) and concluded that “While a ban on paid random items is not desirable, some measures should be put in place to ensure that players have a safe experience” (p. 14).

• The Minister of Justice of Belgium, Vincent Van Quickenborne, has issued a statement in Dutch accepting the study’s results when asked to comment by the Belgian media in August 2022: https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20220812_97460883.

• The Belgian Gaming Commission has accepted the findings and the law reform recommendations and has since published a notice on 14 September 2022 (in Flemish and French) stating that: 

[After duly acknowledging that loot boxes are generally banned in Belgium under gambling law…]

“The Gaming Commission believes that a real debate should take place about loot boxes. It would be opportune to examine whether a good framework could allow operators to legally offer loot boxes and similar games in a reasonable and safe manner. It could be considered whether this system would not be more desirable for the protection of players than a general ban, which is difficult to enforce. An alternative to this general ban would be to allow some loot boxes, linked to a set of operating conditions.

…

The Gaming Commission therefore invites a broader reflection, including on the opportunity to clarify and/or adapt the existing legislation to take into account new phenomena that did not exist at the time the Gaming Act was enacted in 1999” (para 2.4.2.).

• Referenced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport of the UK Government in the House of Lords to support its regulatory position (Hansard: HL Deb 13 Oct 2022, vol 824, col 890: https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2022-10-13/debates/94A8D30A-F9C4-4DBC-89C2-F3CEB034CC93/LootBoxes).

Games Known to Have Taken Compliance Action Following My Study:

• Roblox and games in its ecosystem, e.g., Adopt Me (Roblox Corporation and other companies, e.g., Uplift Games): 13 September 2022 (https://web.archive.org/web/20220914045747/https://help.playadopt.me/hc/en-us/articles/8805290891287; archived)

• Empires & Puzzles (Small Giant Games, Zynga): 25 August 2022 (https://forum.smallgiantgames.com/t/cant-purchase-anything-anymore-because-im-in-the-region-belgium/277607/1; archived)

Media Reporting:

• Reported on by more than 50 venues in some 16 different languages, as listed below: