Are you from the UK? There was a deregulation of high-street gambling machines in that time and there's also been a massive advertising push showing how cool and awesome it is to gamble. All they're saying about loot-boxes in that article is that kids have been exposed to them, and I'm skeptical of that sort of connection ever since Mortal Kombat failed to turn me into a blood-thirsty psycopath, even with the blood turned on.
Well it looks like you can simulate gambling in games as low as PEGI 12 and I think for it to apply the game has to show a pretty close approximation to actual games you see in casinos etc. Loot-boxes are a different thing entirely.Oh, and I don’t blame you for thinking that, it’s the sort of can of worms that no one really knows how deep it will go once open… what’s funny is that, all of what’s going on with it, shouldn’t be needed, there are already systems in place to deal with this sort of shit:
https://pegi.info/
If just simulations of gambling can lead to +18 ratings, why isn’t this sort of stuff impacting the video games ratings?
What PEGI (and the ESRB) should have done is make a new warning category for games that use micro-transactions and luck-based microtransactions so adults are able to easily see if they will be expected to spend more cash after the initial purchase and if their children will be exposed to games of chance. What ever happens now the blame should be taken fully by the self-regulating boards of the industry for failing to respond to consumer concerns.
Edit: (kindof, I didn't actually post yet,) it seems the PEGI board does have a section for in-game purchases but it doesn't say if they're chance-based or not.