The Netherlands and Belgium ban PUBG loot boxes

The Netherlands and Belgium have banned paid PUBG loot boxes, citing that reselling valuable loot box content is illegal as per the gambling laws in these countries.

PUBG. Corp has also confirmed that it has disabled loot box key purchase and usage in the Netherlands and Belgium after a “recent legal interpretation” regarding loot boxes.

The Dutch Games of Chance authority, or Kansspelautoriteit, has conducted probe into the functioning of several popular games containing loot boxes in 2018, such as PUBG, CSGO, FIFA 18, Dota 2, and Rocket League, and found many of them illegal. Titles investigated include PUBG, CSGO, FIFA 18, Dota 2, and Rocket League.

It conducted the enquiry to find out whether loot boxes in games encourage gambling addiction.

When random loot box content is tradable there is almost always a certain monetary value associated with that content. This is why these countries consider paid loot boxes with random content gambling.