Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor gambling within video games.

His Majesty’s Government and the Gambling Commission continue to pay close attention to novel and emergent forms of gambling and gambling-like products, including within video games, to ensure that appropriate regulation is in place.

HM Government has welcomed new, industry-led guidance which aims to address concerns about the use of loot boxes in video games.

Measures to protect players should ensure that the purchase of loot boxes is unavailable to all children and young people unless enabled by a parent or guardian, and that all players have access to, and are aware of, spending controls and transparent information to support safe and responsible gameplay.

The Government has agreed a 12-month implementation period for the new guidance on loot boxes and has asked the industry, co-ordinated by Ukie, to report back to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the extent to which it has been implemented.

We will continue to keep our position on possible future legislative options under review, informed by academic scrutiny of the industry-led measures. We will provide a further update in due course, following the 12-month implementation period.