In recent times there has been controversy surrounding video games and some of its features, such as being able to buy and trade items for real-life cash, like loot boxes which some authorities are claiming is the equivalent of gambling, and an upcoming report from the UK Gambling Commission is expected to shed more light on the issue.However based on the gist of it, it seems that the regulator has made some disturbing discoveries, such as how certain video games allow children as young as 11-years old to “gamble”. While we don’t mean “gamble” like in a casino, some features do come across that way.
The Commission has singled out Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as such a title, where gamers can wage skins from the game for real-life money via third-party websites, a problem which Valve has attempted to curb. The BBC has spoken to Bangor University student Ryan Archer who claims to have gotten involved in skin betting when he was 15, losing more than £2,000 since then.
Archer was quoted as saying how easy it was to get into it. “It’s hard to ask your parents for £1,000 to buy a knife on CSGO […] it’s a lot easier to ask for a tenner and then try and turn that into £1,000.” He adds, “You wouldn’t see an 11-year-old go into a betting shop, but you can with this, there’s nothing to stop you.”
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