For a small set fee, both gamers and gamblers are both taking a chance to get a monetary or pixelated prize thanks to glittering digital in-game loot boxes. There have long been fears that introducing impressionable young adults to the idea that paying for the mere chance to win virtual items early makes moving from gaming to gambling effortless.
Using findings from previous studies on the same subject, this case study talks about why loot box and pay-to-win mechanics encourages youthful adult gamers to seamlessly make the jump to online casinos, where the stakes are higher and losses more tangible.
It also explores a potential way for gamers who do find themselves moving through this pipeline to make the transition more safely. Independent recommendations from industry experts have made finding safe, verified online casinos for Norwegian players simpler. As a potential solution to overt harm, this article ends by going into more detail on why entering the scene with information can help you avoid illegal, unsafe and unregulated platforms.
Context: casino mechanics have bled into video games
Video games and to some extent, arcade games, used to be more simple affairs. A player would go to a game store and buy a complete game, play it to completion, and then move on. As time has gone on, video game studios and developers have noticed that they could encourage players to keep spending beyond that first purchase, if they inject a few clever learnings from the casino industry.
Mobile games, and more commonly some big triple A titles too, now provide ways for a gamer to open up their wallets again and again throughout the experience. At the end of a level or round, a player might be given a reward, but without a key bought in the game store, no way to open it up to see what’s inside. This has proven wildly financially successful. Digital loot boxes, known as cases in Valve’s iconic Counter Strike shooter franchise, bought the studio around $1 million in 2023. This number does not include revenue or profits from actual game purchases.
Why do players keep spending? Because they want to know what’s inside the box. In the case of Counter Strike, the item inside could be valuable enough to pay for a month or more in real-world rent, or way more. Some virtual items in cases have sold on secondary markets for more than $1.2 million. This is more than enough incentive to buy a single key to open a case. The reward inside could change a person’s life in the same way a big casino jackpot might.
Opening boxes makes the move from virtual to real stakes smoother
Many previous surveys and studies have successfully correlated free-to-play games to existing gambling game mechanics and concepts. This is because in some cases, players are unable to progress to new levels unless they open the correct item in a loot box or otherwise have to spend money to continue playing. Often unknowingly to players, this concept of paying to progress normalises for them the ways in which online casino games operate.
Those who enjoy the game loop of opening boxes, might eventually stop playing the core game and only engage in openings. Then, when the rewards no longer feel rewarding because the core gameplay has become secondary, they eventually move to online casinos. This is because in these spaces, the potential rewards on offer are more compelling. For the most part, you won’t even realise you’re likely to end up losing even more, if you’re already so used to the style of play.
Mitigating the potential ill-effects of this pipeline
While some countries are looking into more severely regulating loot boxes in video games, it’s unfortunately very unlikely that this will not slow down the amount of loot box gamers exploring casino games. In the UK alone, spinning slots and making wagers is only growing, with projections estimating the digital industry might earn as much as £11.01 billion in revenue by the end of 2024.
Online gambling is not the same as video gaming. This concept might be easy to understand for outsiders, but youngsters who grow up opening loot boxes probably won’t see the differences so clearly. It’s actually pretty simple to figure out if a site is worthwhile by looking at reviews and expert recommendations.
Learnings from Scandinavia could be applied here. They have more robust vetting systems in place, and finding verified online casinos for Norwegian players is underpinned by lots of independent fact-checking and strict verification processes. Loot box opening enjoyers would be better off first looking at recommendations and short lists of fair casinos before jumping from video games to casino games.
The casino games loot box openers are most likely to gravitate towards
If you enjoy the act of picking a loot box to open and watching as it reveals what reward is inside, you’ll probably only enjoy a handful of casino games currently available on virtual casino floors. Poker and blackjack might be too challenging, although some so-called ‘hardcore’ gamers may actually enjoy the strategy involved to win at these card games. For the most part, online slots and table games like roulette more accurately resemble the fast-paced, instant reward concepts found in loot box openings.
Any casino game that has flashy graphics, lots of fanfare and animations that really make a player feel like they’ve done something amazing when all they’ve really done is pay to click or tap on a digital object, will be appealing. It’s difficult to know for sure which games a past loot box enjoyer will find most fun, but based on statistics surrounding online slot popularity, it’s easy to assume they’ll at least start out with modern slot titles.
