Video games are commonplace internationally. Traditionally, console video games retail for around $60. But with the rise of free-to-play and low-cost mobile games straight from the app store, these traditional revenue sources have dried up for mobile game providers. In search of profits to supplement this, they have turned to the “freemium” model.

   The “freemium” model offers basic and limited features at no cost, for example downloading a game for free, but then charges a premium price for upgrades and advanced features. Commonly, these take place in the form of in-app purchases for virtual currency and loot boxes.

   Loot boxes, as the name implies, provide in-game loot and mystery items, for example upgrades to in-game weapons and armor. But this comes at a price — specifically, it has been integrated into the pay-to-win model.

   The pay-to-win game model is where users buy virtual items such as armor upgrades, weapon customization, et cetera, with real-life money in order to gain an edge in the in-game universe. This has been criticized as unfair, especially when it becomes impossible for an average user of the game to advance without paying.

   Video games are generally seen as games of skill, but with the introduction of pay-to-win, they become games of chance that rather resembles gambling.

   Another concern that has been brought up is the propensity towards online gambling, specifically online gambling targeted towards children. A large portion of the video game audience is young children who are susceptible to marketing loot boxes without any knowledge of the consequences.

   Opening loot boxes can be seen as an incentive to keep playing a game. The worry that this perpetuates a cycle of video game addiction is a real one.

   As a result, some countries classify the buying of loot boxes as online gambling and regulate them accordingly. For example, in China, the Ministry of Culture required all online game developers to publish the probability of obtaining all possible virtual items from the loot boxes, with some being as low as 0.1%.

   While loot boxes may look lucrative at first glance, a deeper dive into the actual probability behind it illuminates the intricacies and unfairness of a pay-to-win system, wrapped up in the reality of children’s online gambling.