🇧🇪 Video games with illegal loot boxes are widely advertised on social media
March 2025: A request for an explanation was made by Katia Segers in the Flemish Parliament (Vraag om uitleg 2066 (2024-2025)) on the basis of our research finding that video games with illegal loot boxes and social casino games are widely advertised to Belgian users on social media. This was discussed in the Committee for Culture, Youth, Sports and Media.
🇧🇪 Belgium’s ‘Ban’ on Loot Boxes Proven Ineffective, (Further detail on the dedicated project page)
January 2025: Both my legal analysis and empirical evidence as to the Apple App Store’s non-compliance and non-enforcement cited with approval by the Enterprise Court of Antwerp ruling that paid loot boxes are illegal in Belgium (p. 4, fn. 4; p. 17, fns. 36, 37; p. 18, fns. 38, 40): Link. Press release.
January 2025: The ineffectiveness of the ban on loot boxes was discussed in the Committee for Culture, Youth, Sports and Media of the Flemish Parliament: Link.
December 2024: In a report summarising the findings from a workshop, 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): Link.
June 2022: Met with the Belgian Gaming Commission to share and discuss my empirical research findings, confirmed a number of legal points concerning Belgian gambling law and its licensing regime, and heard the Commission’s perspective on why the law has not been satisfactorily enforced.
August 2022: Following popular media reporting of my study, the Belgian Minister of Justice publicly accepted my findings criticising his government in a response published in local media: Link.
February 2023: Met with the Belgian Gaming Commission in a follow-up to discuss official actions taken following the report, future regulatory plans about gambling-like products, and my PEGI/IARC Google Play Store loot box presence warning label study