Loot boxes are one of modern gaming’s most popular and controversial business models. Based on the use of random reward mechanisms, loot boxes offer users the chance – for a price – to obtain sought after in-game items, weapons, advantages or cosmetics. Many videogames implement them, and they yearly generate billions of euros in revenue.

However, this element of chance has generated heated debates: a large part of the videogames userbase consists of minors, and there are concerns that they are especially susceptible to predatory tactics and pressures that loot boxes might entail. Some voices in the industry have also called attention to the similarities of these reward mechanisms to traditional gambling, comparing loot boxes to a sort of digital slot machine.

In Spain, the matter of loot boxes is complicated due to existing gambling regulations, which define gambling activities with requirements that are, in practice, fulfilled by loot boxes. This coincidence has not gone unnoticed by the Spanish Government, who has begun a foray into the possible regulation of loot boxes. 

In 2022, the Spanish Government studied the drafting of a first-of-a-kind specific legislation concerning loot boxes, called ‘Preliminary draft law regulating random reward mechanisms associated with interactive leisure software products‘. The introduction of this draft specifically addressed this parallelism, stating that the videogame sector had developed new business models that have brought its range of products and services closer to those offered by the online gambling industry. It was also pointed out that the phenomenon of loot boxes, defined as the ‘use of random reward mechanisms, which include chance as the most relevant element of their operation’ proved to be the most likely to generate a space of confusion between these two economic sectors.

The draft proposed restricting access to loot boxes to children under 18 years, which meant that platforms containing loot boxes would be obliged to verify at the time of payment, by means of ID or biometric identification, whether the account belonged to a minor or not.

However, the fact is that the revenue generated from loot boxes may prove too big of a factor for their direct and specific regulation, as at the beginning of 2024, the current Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and 2030 Agenda decided to backtrack and withdraw the above draft bill from the legislative race, citing concerns about the potential restrictions that the text could cause to the creative and economic development of the video game sector.

But that did not signal the end of the Spanish Government’s attempts to implement regulations that safeguarded minors from the access to loot boxes. In June 2024, the ‘Preliminary draft of the Organic Law for the protection of minors in digital environments’ was greenlighted, proposing the restoration of some of the measures set forth in the 2022 draft bill. 

To be specific, this latest draft encompasses loot boxes under its definition of ‘random reward mechanisms’: virtual functionalities whose activation is carried out with legal tender or through a virtual object, such as a code, key, in-game currency, cryptocurrency or other element, acquired with money directly or indirectly; in which the result of such activation is uncertain and consists of obtaining a virtual object that can be exchanged for money or other virtual objects. The access or activation of ‘random reward mechanisms’ would be, thus, forbidden by this proposed new draft.

It remains to be seen if this latest attempt of restricting loot boxes will reach the adoption stage, or if it will share its predecessor’s fate. Until then, the regulation of loot boxes in Spain is left in a state of uncertainty, although the risk that these gaming elements are considered as gambling remains. If so considered, it must be taken into account that gambling activities are heavily regulated in Spain, with strict restrictions on advertising, and measures to protect those in risk of gambling addiction, such as sending risk behaviour alert messages or a monthly summary of the activity that players have undertaken.

What’s for certain is that loot boxes and their potential impact on minors are in the focus of the Spanish Government. This will require that developers and publishers who intend to commercialize them in Spain are wary of the development of the ‘Organic Law for the protection of minors in digital environments’ and also of potential gambling legal restrictions that might apply.