“Illegal gambling games” should not mean videogames, according to Washington state bill
A pair of bipartisan bills introduced in the Washington state legislature aim to protect game developers from class action lawsuits. The bills, introduced in the state’s Senate and House of Representatives, each amend the definition of “illegal gambling games” in existing state law to specifically exclude most videogames.
The amended text would read: “For purposes of this section, ‘illegal gambling games’ does not include online games of chance when played solely for entertainment purposes with virtual items if such virtual items may be used only for gameplay and may not be, per the terms of service of the game, transferred, exchanged, or redeemed for money or property.”
That would certainly include loot boxes, as most games with loot box systems forbid the trade of virtual goods through their terms of service. The reasoning here is similar to that used by the UK Gambling Commission in 2017, when the organisation declared that loot boxes are not gambling as they can’t be cashed out for real-world money. (Though UK sentiment is far from settled, as the NHS mental health director has suggested loot boxes "encourage children to gamble.")
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