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Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes

Loot boxes are digital containers of randomised rewards present in some video games which are often purchasable for real world money. Recently, concerns have been raised that loot boxes might approximate traditional gambling activities, and that people with gambling problems have been shown to spend...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zendle, David, Walasek, Lukasz, Cairns, Paul, Meyer, Rachel, Drummond, Aaron
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8023484/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33822788
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247855
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author Zendle, David
Walasek, Lukasz
Cairns, Paul
Meyer, Rachel
Drummond, Aaron
author_facet Zendle, David
Walasek, Lukasz
Cairns, Paul
Meyer, Rachel
Drummond, Aaron
author_sort Zendle, David
collection PubMed
description Loot boxes are digital containers of randomised rewards present in some video games which are often purchasable for real world money. Recently, concerns have been raised that loot boxes might approximate traditional gambling activities, and that people with gambling problems have been shown to spend more on loot boxes than peers without gambling problems. Some argue that the regulation of loot boxes as gambling-like mechanics is inappropriate because similar activities which also bear striking similarities to traditional forms of gambling, such as collectable card games, are not subject to such regulations. Players of collectible card games often buy sealed physical packs of cards, and these ‘booster packs’ share many formal similarities with loot boxes. However, not everything which appears similar to gambling requires regulation. Here, in a large sample of collectible card game players (n = 726), we show no statistically significant link between in real-world store spending on physical booster and problem gambling (p = 0.110, η(2) = 0.004), and a trivial in magnitude relationship between spending on booster packs in online stores and problem gambling (p = 0.035, η(2) = 0.008). Follow-up equivalence tests using the TOST procedure rejected the hypothesis that either of these effects was of practical importance (η(2) > 0.04). Thus, although collectable card game booster packs, like loot boxes, share structural similarities with gambling, it appears that they may not be linked to problem gambling in the same way as loot boxes. We discuss potential reasons for these differences. Decisions regarding regulation of activities which share structural features with traditional forms of gambling should be made on the basis of definitional criteria as well as whether people with gambling problems purchase such items at a higher rate than peers with no gambling problems. Our research suggests that there is currently little evidence to support the regulation of collectable card games.
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spelling pubmed-80234842021-04-15 Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes Zendle, David Walasek, Lukasz Cairns, Paul Meyer, Rachel Drummond, Aaron PLoS One Research Article Loot boxes are digital containers of randomised rewards present in some video games which are often purchasable for real world money. Recently, concerns have been raised that loot boxes might approximate traditional gambling activities, and that people with gambling problems have been shown to spend more on loot boxes than peers without gambling problems. Some argue that the regulation of loot boxes as gambling-like mechanics is inappropriate because similar activities which also bear striking similarities to traditional forms of gambling, such as collectable card games, are not subject to such regulations. Players of collectible card games often buy sealed physical packs of cards, and these ‘booster packs’ share many formal similarities with loot boxes. However, not everything which appears similar to gambling requires regulation. Here, in a large sample of collectible card game players (n = 726), we show no statistically significant link between in real-world store spending on physical booster and problem gambling (p = 0.110, η(2) = 0.004), and a trivial in magnitude relationship between spending on booster packs in online stores and problem gambling (p = 0.035, η(2) = 0.008). Follow-up equivalence tests using the TOST procedure rejected the hypothesis that either of these effects was of practical importance (η(2) > 0.04). Thus, although collectable card game booster packs, like loot boxes, share structural similarities with gambling, it appears that they may not be linked to problem gambling in the same way as loot boxes. We discuss potential reasons for these differences. Decisions regarding regulation of activities which share structural features with traditional forms of gambling should be made on the basis of definitional criteria as well as whether people with gambling problems purchase such items at a higher rate than peers with no gambling problems. Our research suggests that there is currently little evidence to support the regulation of collectable card games. Public Library of Science 2021-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8023484/ /pubmed/33822788 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247855 Text en © 2021 Zendle et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zendle, David
Walasek, Lukasz
Cairns, Paul
Meyer, Rachel
Drummond, Aaron
Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
title Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
title_full Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
title_fullStr Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
title_full_unstemmed Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
title_short Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
title_sort links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: a conceptual replication of research on loot boxes
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8023484/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33822788
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247855
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