Session Title

Session 2-2-C: Consumer Protection

Wessel OomensFollow

Presentation Type

Event

Location

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

Start Date

29-5-2019 11:00 AM

End Date

29-5-2019 12:25 PM

Disciplines

Economics | Gaming Law | Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation

Abstract

The traditional landscape of games of chance such as lotteries, betting, casinos and slots has become intertwined with complex financial products as well as digital games with elements of chance.

The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued a guidance paper outlining a five-step decision process in order to determine whether a game classifies as gambling:

  • Threshold: is the number of providers, players and the amount money involved considerable enough to warrant spending resources in assessing the game?
  • Overlap: is there potential overlap with other rules and regulations, in particular those governing financial products?
  • Prize: does the game award its winners with prizes of economic value?
  • Predominant influence: do the game’s elements of chance have a predominant influence relative to players’ skills in determining the game’s outcome?
  • Substitutes: for games that do not meet the prize and predominance criteria, are there potentially similar harms to the public (such as the risk for addiction and crime) as gambling, and does this warrant further policy or legislative measures?

In this talk, we discuss the guidance paper and share our experiences in applying it to loot boxes in more detail.

Keywords

regulation, chance, skill, gaming, loot boxes, Netherlands

Author Bios

Wessel Oomens is an advisor at the Netherlands Gambling Authority (NGA). He is the author of the ‘Guide on assessing games of chance’ and contributed to the NGA’s loot box investigation. He has great knowledge of games through both personal experience (semi-professional Magic the Gathering player 1996-2008, bridge player, gamer) and his Master degree in business economics (Amsterdam, 2009) with a specialization in game theory. Wessel is a member of the GREF eGambling Working Group.

Funding Sources

his work was funded entirely by the Netherlands Gambling Authority, an independent governmental organization with the legal mandate to license, regulate and supervise all gambling operators in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Gambling Authority has drafted the underlying guidance paper for this presentation based on its legal mandate, the author's expertise and a public market consultation.

Competing Interests

The authors declare to have no financial or non-financial competing interests, other than from the Netherlands Gambling Authority as the funding agency.

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May 29th, 11:00 AM May 29th, 12:25 PM

What is a game of chance? An application to loot boxes

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

The traditional landscape of games of chance such as lotteries, betting, casinos and slots has become intertwined with complex financial products as well as digital games with elements of chance.

The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued a guidance paper outlining a five-step decision process in order to determine whether a game classifies as gambling:

  • Threshold: is the number of providers, players and the amount money involved considerable enough to warrant spending resources in assessing the game?
  • Overlap: is there potential overlap with other rules and regulations, in particular those governing financial products?
  • Prize: does the game award its winners with prizes of economic value?
  • Predominant influence: do the game’s elements of chance have a predominant influence relative to players’ skills in determining the game’s outcome?
  • Substitutes: for games that do not meet the prize and predominance criteria, are there potentially similar harms to the public (such as the risk for addiction and crime) as gambling, and does this warrant further policy or legislative measures?

In this talk, we discuss the guidance paper and share our experiences in applying it to loot boxes in more detail.