I think if we could wrap our minds around what is happening psychologically in these games, most of them would be off-limits to children.
What's interesting is that we've decided to define gambling according the rules of the game—in reality, "gambling" is probably more akin to a psychological state that can be induced by many different rulesets and experiences.
Mobile games today are largely thinly-veiled attempts to induce this state in children through various Skinner Box mechanics in order to get at their parents' wallets. Fine.
But the real question is: what happens to the mind of an eight-year-old if they have a gambling simulator in their pocket every day? What happens to their neurological development after five years of exposure to this "gambling" state?
Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities whatsoever.
I don't think it's fair to claim that. Lotteries have been around a lot longer and gambling addiction has had a lot more time to be studied. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if mobile games turn out to be as bad or worse than lotteries. The sheer amount of effort into creating addictive game mechanics and leveraging of statistical methods, such as A/B testing, puts traditional casinos and state lotteries to shame.
Having said all that, you don't have to look very far to see some alarming articles about the effects these products have on young children [1].
> "Do the licensed gambling entities not perceive this as a threat? Or has gambling revenue increase overall because these games / apps basically groom young people in to being habitual gamblers as they age?"
Probably a little of column A, a little of column B. The kids gambling with these games aren't potential customers for casinos since they're underage, but the habits they form as children may translate into willingness to gamble as adults. Maybe those kids-turned-adults will continue to gamble with video games instead of casinos, but I'd wager those casinos expect it to be a net positive for them overall. After all casinos offer "perks" that video games can't; free drinks, buffets, etc..
Underrated comment IMHO. Those "casual"-games look like a gateway drug to gambling addiction to me. They borrow mechanics from games usually found in casinos and it is frightening to see how we let our kids play these games without much thought.
There's one multi-player mobile game i play somewhat regularly. It's full of so much nonsense that can only be described as gambling. This is putting aside the direct skin purchases that range from $5-$20 that have no effect other than to change in game appearance. The gambling though.
Regular events, most of which which are draws, with skins as prizes, where the odds of winning, as stated in game, are at times lower than 1%. These draws will tend to give the first few free or winnable through in game tasks, but inevitably end up costing actual money if you actually want even the slightest chance of winning.
The costs for this to actually win a prize i imagine could easily end up being pretty significant.
It's constant though, every day, every week, every month. New draws and prizes for people to buy with rewards that are essentially completely pointless.
It's a free game, so i'm pretty sure this is where the majority of the games profits come from and it seems like an extremely profitable game.
It all does seem to be things that would be primarily appealing to kids though. Things to make the characters look cool and let you brag. Then again, there's plenty of adults susceptible to that kind of thing.
The politicians report covers gambling-like mechanics that don't involve money.
> 69.Many games contain features that are highly similar to conventional gambling products, without gambling being the primary aim of the game. However, there are concerns that being exposed to such features from a young age might normalise gambling. One parent expressed concern that the game Bricky Farm, which is rated suitable for children, contains a gambling-like feature. He told us:
> > Most worrying for me is a roulette style wheel mini-game whereby differing amounts of gems can be won for further advancement. This is where the game could become addictive to someone with a susceptibility but more than that it is introducing children as young as 4 to the ‘thrill’ of gambling.133
There's different twists to it, no doubt, it's just distracting the point I was making though.
I just found it highly interesting that 12 year old's gambling was such a recipe for success that 3 out of 4 of the most popular games out there have it as a core feature.
I tend to have a Bigger issue when it's in-game than out of game because do you really want the worlds best digital-heroin makers to run casinos where your kids are the guests?
Well sports betting has been around forever, but dark patterns and intentional deception in mobile games leads to children being manipulated. Not consenting adults, CHILDREN.
> Games are designed to keep you interested and engaged-- that's just what a game is. Children's games have included gambling since toys have existed (dreidel, jacks, marbles, to name a few).
You're not wrong, can also point to baseball cards, magic the gathering or pokemon cards. The key differences today are
1) Instant-availability of the secondary market and third party sites that allow you to gamble with virtual currency you've won.
2) Devs/Publishers hiring psychologists and cognitive behavior specialists to design these loot box experiences to release the perfect amount of dopamine to get users addicted, with frightening efficiency. In comparison your examples are extremely mild.
You could say it's the parents responsibility to educate and protect their children from these practices - but would you say the same about the tobacco industry advertising to children? For me this is the same addiction from profit motive the tobacco industry exploited for many years until they were rightfully regulated.
No, this is illegal use of casino algorithms and payoff psychology / slot machine psychology, outside of regulation, restriction from exposure to children, without disclaimers for gambling problems and hotlines.
The middle-tier issues I have: the same issues that used to exist with gambling and introducing it officially: moral concerns over degeneracy, the family impacts of gambling addictions, the regressive cost nature on poor/middle class.
What I'm really concerned about: outright cheating. There is implied probabilities involved here, and the apps are not doing the implied distribution. Sure, go ahead and point to the fine print. There is a reason gambling is so heavily restricted and regulated. These games are acting like they aren't subject to these laws.
What I'm really really really concerned about: the use of gambling payoff/reward psychology/neurotransmitter biology in games that CHILDREN are being subjected to, or even worse, they are ACTIVELY targeted by the "free to play" games, by the "click/watch ad to keep playing" ads in the FTP games.
This is OUTRAGEOUS. This has to end. This has to be strictly regulated. Many of these free to play games, which even cursory experience educates you to a world where "whales" that are paying thousands of dollars a month or more. These games are among the most popular/heavily downloaded games in the app stores, with hundreds of millions of revenue, which Apple and Google are feasting at the trough on.
Absolutely outrageous. Apple and Google should be ashamed of themselves, and fined billions of dollars over this. Why Europe has not woken up to this, which is the only real hope in the short run for substantial fines, is beyond me.
1) This is very prevalent in high budget desktop/console games as well, not just mobile games.
2) These games typically do little to nothing to abide by laws that prohibit gambling by minors. There are definitely concerns of whether this is ethical or legal.
I've been saying this for awhile, and on top of it you've got microtransaction and loot boxes which are essentially online games of chance which under the lottery rules and regulations aren't even allowed in some states and provinces on top of it they're marketed towards the children. I think in the future when we look back at this time we're going to see gaming companies that have gone bankrupt in order to pay for the gambling addictions and long-term damaging effects that these are on children and or adults. Developing and forming the brain of vulnerable players to become addicted to gambling and who knows what other types of effects I could have on addictions if the brain is developed into becoming addicted to gambling it's such a young age. I really think the parents need to monitor their kids and understand what they're doing just because something is a game does not mean that it's for children for example I don't know how many times there's been kids like 12 years old in online party chats on Playstation with adults and also playing rated r games which I find f terrifying and so happy I don't have kids so if there are parents reading this please don't let your kid have a microphone and be unsupervised and please don't be an enabler to their wanting to get items for a game out of supply drops and
and please understand that these are merely the equivalent of scratch off tickets marketed towards children.
I know tens of people who got into trouble because of gambling as I spent most of my adult life in gambling world. None of them got exposure to it as a child. Losing toy money in soft form of gambling may be a valuable lesson for the future while still having a protective umbrella children enjoy. Worst that can happen is some kicking and screaming where the child discovers something they wanted to buy in the game isn't provided and there is no more money to spend. With an adult coming across the same deceptive mechanism for the first time the results could be and very often are tragic.
The report isn't just about the money being spent. It's also about introducing gambling mechanics to children at a young age.
> acknowledge the distinction between licensed online gambling, social casino-style games that “have the look and feel of traditional gambling” but may not be licensed as such, and games containing features akin to gambling as one aspect of the overall product or game experience rather than the predominant quality.132 Our inquiry has focused on the latter, although the other two are both important issues that merit further consideration.
> 69.Many games contain features that are highly similar to conventional gambling products, without gambling being the primary aim of the game. However, there are concerns that being exposed to such features from a young age might normalise gambling. One parent expressed concern that the game Bricky Farm, which is rated suitable for children, contains a gambling-like feature. He told us:
> > Most worrying for me is a roulette style wheel mini-game whereby differing amounts of gems can be won for further advancement. This is where the game could become addictive to someone with a susceptibility but more than that it is introducing children as young as 4 to the ‘thrill’ of gambling.133
> 70.The parent’s concern is supported by Dr David Zendle’s acknowledgment “that a really good predictor of problem gambling is the social acceptance and availability” of it.134 Indeed, the Gambling Commission told us that the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling expressed concerns in response to the Online Harms White Paper about the associations between “gambling lite behaviours and children’s behaviours”.135 Furthermore, Brad Enright from the Gambling Commission told us that even when games do not meet the regulatory threshold for gambling, but contain gambling-like features, the regulator does:
> > not think the current age ratings are in line with public expectation, so that should not be available for four-plus or even 12-plus.136
What's interesting is that we've decided to define gambling according the rules of the game—in reality, "gambling" is probably more akin to a psychological state that can be induced by many different rulesets and experiences.
Mobile games today are largely thinly-veiled attempts to induce this state in children through various Skinner Box mechanics in order to get at their parents' wallets. Fine.
But the real question is: what happens to the mind of an eight-year-old if they have a gambling simulator in their pocket every day? What happens to their neurological development after five years of exposure to this "gambling" state?
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