Gambling: Loot Boxes

Lord Browne of Belmont Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to ensuring that the UK is one of the safest places in the world to be online, and that includes gaming and gambling. The Information Commissioner’s Office has published the children’s code, which sets out how online services which are likely to be accessed by children should protect them online.

[Lord Browne of Belmont (DUP)]

My Lords, there are two main ways of controlling the use of loot boxes—banning or regulation—so what assessment have the Government made of the effectiveness of Belgium’s ban on the use of loot boxes and the Chinese approach of reducing the number of loot boxes that can be opened on a daily basis?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

As part of our review, we are of course looking at examples from around the world to see what other jurisdictions have done and will set out our responses in due course.