Irish political party; Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach urged that Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) take on loot boxes in video games. Fianna Fáil claimed that loot boxes encourage children to gamble. The party pointed out card packs in FIFA for the “Ultimate Team” mode as an egregious offender, although they also targeted additional transactions available in Grand Theft Auto 5 and Call of Duty.
Fianna Fáil’s Teachta Dála (justice spokesperson) for the Dáil Éireann (lower house of Oireachtas) Jim O’Callaghan spoke to reporters, “There are many games out there like Fortnite that attract children to play on the basis that at the end of their obstacle course or at the end of their game there will be a loot box there and some piece of money available for them.”
Jim O’Callaghan spoke out that the government tries to protect children from many dangers of life such as tobacco, and to real life gambling. He commented that the nature of gambling has changed from physically going to an establishment where the worst outcome is an adult could loose was a week’s worth of wages to online where players gamble with credit cards and money they may not have. Fianna Fáil and Jim O’Callaghan stated that the system is too easy to access for children as well.
Fianna Fáil pointed out the loot llamas available for purchase in Fortnite’s “Save the World Mode” as gambling. Epic Games has recently changed loot llamas to display the probabilities of winning certain rewards, though Fianna Fáil still argues that it is gambling and is predatory to children.
Fianna Fáil stated that tackling gambling and any industries dealing in gambling is a priority for the party. Along with tackling loot boxes, Fianna Fáil intends on banning whistle-to-whistle betting, or in-game betting, which will only allow people to put down bets during the course of a sports game or event, in both esports and traditional sports.