Loot Boxes vs Casino Spins: Where the Law Draws the Line

Other By TXH

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October 30, 2026

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For a game to qualify as gambling, it generally needs three qualifiers: chance, a stake, and a prize that has real money value. When we’re talking about loot boxes, they have both chance and a stake, but they fail when it comes to the prize. As for casino spins, they don’t fail on any criterion, so there’s a fundamental difference between them.

The dilemma surrounding loot boxes and the monetization of chance-driven items in video games is the main issue here. The boxes can drop in-game content that can vary from common to rare or unique, and that’s where real-world value starts taking shape. 

If there’s a resale market for prizes that, at face value, would have no value outside the game, then is this monetization changing the legal status of what one can do with the loot box drop?

This article will delve into the technicalities of loot boxes and how the design of casino bonus spins will always make them qualify as gambling. There has also been a sea of change from this point of view, which may spell a shift in the perception of lootbox mechanisms, including whether they are gambling.

Gambling needs three elements, and lootboxes usually miss one 

As showcased in the intro, chance and stake (consideration) are two of the core elements that create a gambling mechanism. The lack of a prize when it comes to lootboxes is the one that misses because it doesn’t necessarily fit the legal definition of gambling.

Looking into the legislation, the UKGC, the authority that oversees gambling in the United Kingdom, considers the prize in the context of gambling as ‘money or money’s worth’, per the 2005 Gambling Act (section 6), which is still the binding legal framework for gambling in Britain. As such, the ‘money’s worth’ factor doesn’t qualify either, since the item that drops in the lootbox has value only within the game, where the player can use it.

In the US, state law, for example, calls the prize ‘a thing of value.’ The question here is whether the value in question is within the video game’s internal economy or if it can be used for real-life expenses. If it serves no purpose other than as a helpful or cosmetic enhancement in the game, then its value is not a prize in the legal sense of gambling.

Strong legal pushback against this model came from the Kater v. Churchill Downs lawsuit, in which the US Ninth Circuit determined that in-game currency bought with real money in a video game qualifies as a thing of value since it allows the player to continue playing. The ruling, made on 28 March 2018, essentially opened a precedent for in-game currencies to qualify as a prize, becoming a constituent of gambling.

The point here, even if the reward you get from a form of lootbox you get in a game, is whether you can monetize it (cash out). If the winnings from a randomized mechanism are to have a real, in-game value that you can get via purchases with real money, then the prize has real money value.

Where every chance mechanic sits on the line 

The order of qualification for gambling in the table below comes from whether the received rewards are cashable and constitute a prize that would qualify as having monetary worth.

There are a few technicalities that must be addressed since the qualification from the table above has some caveats:

• Social casino coins, also known as sweepstakes coins, are optional. These platforms have dual currency systems, and the paid ones are, in a way, premium. However, the currency, either free or paid, is not cashable.
• Tradable skins can generate real monetary value through a resale market whose commercial dynamics lie outside the video game platform. However, the in-game item (the skin) can generate real-world monetary value.
• Free spins provided by online casino operators require no payment when claiming them. However, they mostly require clearing a set of wagering requirements (playing the amount of winnings generated by the spins a number of times), so they’re cashable on a condition. Moreover, they may require an active deposit on that account before allowing the user to cash out their wagered winnings.

Casino spins are intrinsically tied to gambling in their mechanics

Building on the point about wagering requirements, they are what bring the player back into the staking loop, even if the bets made with the set of spins are covered by the casino itself. Completing this process unlocks the cashability of spins.

The player can claim free spins without depositing, use them without paying the stake, but the same stakes return during this wagering sequence. If the user were to use 20 spins at $0.1 per slot round, then they would be playing $2 worth of stake. At 40x wagering, they have to bet $80 during this sequence to actually get the real money prize.

As such, there is an automatic return to qualifying for all three elements of what constitutes gambling. What happens is that there’s a postponement of staking, but its implementation is inevitable. The entire gambling mechanism is part of the architecture of how any user would use these spins.

However, every player needs to remember that gambling is for people 18 or 21+, or another minimum age, depending on the jurisdiction. This activity can also cause addiction, so it’s helpful to approach it with a clear head. Contacting Gambling Therapy can be essential for anyone who is struggling with addiction symptoms.

Belgium banned lootboxes on paper, and the Netherlands lost in court

In April 2018, the Belgian Gaming Commission came to the conclusion that lootboxes do, in fact, qualify as gambling after looking into the systems present in games like FIFA 18, Overwatch, CS: GO, and Star Wars: Battlefront II.

The interesting part is that, per Xiao’s findings based on data from May 2022, 82% of Belgium’s mobile games (specifically iPhone versions) still had some form of randomized monetization method in their systems, suggesting that Belgium’s ban was mostly ineffective.

Another case of pushback that found no success, not even in court, was in Belgium’s Low Country neighbors, the Netherlands. On 19 April 2018, the Dutch Gaming Authority also concluded that lootboxes constitute a form of gambling, a decision later supported by the District Court of The Hague on 15 October 2020.

However, the Council of State later overturned this determination on 9 March 2022, which created further difficulty for the establishment of the lootbox model as gambling

There have been shifts in 2026

On 25 February 2025, the State of New York filed a complaint against Valve, the developer whose game (CS:GO) created the ecosystem of skin gambling, alleging that its lootbox keys ($2.49 cost per key) and its skin resale market constitute gambling.

The lawsuit targets mechanisms in Valve’s current games, such as Counter-Strike 2 and Team Fortress 2, highlighting that their key and skin markets are illegal gambling operations, seeking restitution of player funds, disregarding profits, and treble damages related to the profits generated by Valve. The case is still ongoing when writing this.

Another major move was the set of 2026 updates that came to the PEGI system, which grades video games based on the availability of these titles across age groups. 

The major things that matter here are that games with lootbox mechanics went directly to PEGI 16 (some, such as EA’s FIFA/FC series, are PEGI 3 despite having card packs that operate just like lootboxes), applicable from 1 June 2026 to new games. Some titles would even fall within the PEGI 18 denomination.

Notably, starting 1 October 2026, these ratings would also change for existing games, shifting young people away from the lootbox mechanic.

Conclusion: Keep things under control

If you are actively paying to be part of such an activity, then you may be at risk of gambling. Control your spending on the platform where you’re buying lootboxes, and consider seeking help if you have trouble stopping yourself from making such purchases.

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