Any game submitted to PEGI from June 2026 that sells paid random items now starts at a minimum PEGI 16 rating. The same month, a Brazilian children’s court ordered 13 companies to pay BRL 333 million over loot boxes sold to minors. Below are verified loot box regulation statistics for 2026, covering national rules, enforcement outcomes, disclosure compliance, and the youth data regulators keep citing.
Loot Box Regulation
Loot Box Regulation By Country In 2026
Four of the seven entries below took effect after March 2024, which is why compliance data still lags the statute books.
| Jurisdiction | Approach | In force |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Paid loot boxes treated as gambling under the Gambling Act | April 2018 |
| South Korea | Mandatory probability disclosure under the Game Industry Promotion Act | 22 March 2024 |
| Australia | Minimum M for paid loot boxes, minimum R 18+ for simulated gambling | 22 September 2024 |
| Brazil | Paid loot boxes barred for minors under ECA Digital, Law 15,211/2025 | March 2026 |
| Europe (PEGI) | Minimum PEGI 16 for new submissions containing paid random items | June 2026 |
| European Union | Digital Fairness Act listed in the Commission’s 2026 work programme | Proposal due Q4 2026 |
| United States | No federal loot box statute, enforcement handled case by case | Not applicable |
Source: Belgian Gaming Commission; Kim & Chang; Australian Classification; Licks Attorneys; PEGI; European Parliament Legislative Train. Status as of August 2026.
Belgium is the outlier. A December 2024 workshop convened by its own Gaming Commission concluded that a ban on paid random items was not desirable and that layered measures would work better.
What Changes Under PEGI Loot Box Regulation From June 2026?
PEGI announced four interactive risk categories on 12 March 2026, developed with Germany’s USK, applying to titles submitted from June 2026 onward.
| Game feature | Minimum rating |
|---|---|
| Paid random items (loot boxes, gacha, card packs) | PEGI 16 |
| Social casino content | PEGI 18 |
| NFT or blockchain mechanics | PEGI 18 |
| Unrestricted communication features | PEGI 18 |
| Time-limited or quantity-limited purchase offers | PEGI 12 |
| Play-by-appointment rewards such as daily quests | PEGI 7 |
Source: PEGI, announced 12 March 2026, applies to games submitted from June 2026.
Scope is the part publishers noticed. Classified games keep their ratings unless a content update forces reclassification, so a live-service title that has sold packs for years is untouched while its successor faces a 16.
Sports franchises are the clearest test case, since EA Sports FC 26 sales data sits behind a rating assigned under the old criteria.
Loot Box Regulation Enforcement Actions And Fines
Five actions since January 2024 have produced penalties, investigations, or claims. Only the FTC settlement is fully resolved.
| Date | Authority | Target | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 2024 | KFTC (South Korea) | Nexon Korea | KRW 11.642 billion surcharge, under appeal at the Seoul High Court |
| 17 Jan 2025 | FTC (United States) | Cognosphere / HoYoverse | USD 20 million penalty, under-16 loot box purchases blocked without parental consent |
| 16 Jan 2026 | AGCM (Italy) | Activision Blizzard | Two investigations opened into Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile |
| 25 Feb 2026 | New York Attorney General | Valve | Suit seeking to halt loot boxes plus a fine of three times gains |
| 9 Jun 2026 | 1st Court for Children and Youth, Federal District (Brazil) | 13 developers and platform operators | BRL 333 million in collective damages, subject to appeal |
Source: KFTC via Kim & Chang and Inven Global; FTC; AGCM; New York Attorney General via GeekWire; Licks Attorneys. January 2024 to June 2026.
The award came out of 13 civil class actions filed in 2021 by ANCED, a children’s rights association. Judge Rejane Zenir Jungbluth Teixeira Suxberger ruled for ANCED in all 13.
Source: Licks Attorneys, ruling of 9 June 2026.
The court also ordered warning screens, exact probability disclosure, age verification beyond self-declaration, and a refund mechanism, backed by a daily fine of BRL 500,000 capped initially at 30 days.
The FTC order went further than money, banning loot box sales to under-16s without verifiable parental consent and requiring disclosure of odds and multi-tier currency exchange rates.
Its complaint put the chance of the specific featured five-star character at 0.3% per pull, against an in-game disclosure of a 0.600% base probability for any five-star. Our Genshin Impact revenue and player figures show the scale of the game behind that settlement.
Valve moved to dismiss in May 2026, arguing that treating randomized purchases as gambling would sweep in baseball cards and comic grab bags.
How Well Do Games Comply With Loot Box Disclosure Rules?
South Korea
Xiao and Park examined the 100 highest-grossing South Korean iPhone games after the disclosure law took effect.
Of those 90 games, 84.4% disclosed probabilities. The authors concluded that actively enforced law still outperformed industry self-regulation, even short of full compliance.
Source: Xiao and Park, Acta Psychologica, volume 260, October 2025.
Japan
A separate analysis of the 100 top-grossing Japanese App Store games found 91 with loot boxes, then recorded one hour of gameplay per title.
Nine in ten disclosed odds for at least one loot box. Fewer than half did so for every loot box reachable in that first hour.
Source: Xiong, Xiao, Shinohara and colleagues, City University of Hong Kong, 2026.
Australia
A year after the classification change, the Sydney Games and Play Lab checked the top 100 games in each store against the new rules.
Google Play carried more than twice as many wrong labels as the App Store. The maximum penalty for mislabelling a game is around A$6,000.
Source: University of Sydney, 30 September 2025; penalty figure from Hardwick and colleagues, The Conversation, July 2026.
Youth Gambling Data Behind Loot Box Regulation
Common Sense Media surveyed 1,017 US boys aged 11 to 17 in July 2025 and published on 29 January 2026. 36% reported gambling in the past year, ranging from nearly a third of 11-year-olds to nearly half of 17-year-olds.
The Gambling Commission’s 2025 survey of 11 to 17-year-olds in Great Britain measured awareness of in-game payment types.
| Statement | Aware |
|---|---|
| Buying virtual items in games with your own money | 80% |
| Opening virtual surprise boxes with in-game money | 77% |
| Opening virtual surprise boxes with your own or a parent’s money | 73% |
| Paying to play casino games in an in-game casino | 59% |
| Betting with in-game items on sites outside the game | 50% |
Source: Gambling Commission, Young People and Gambling 2025, published 13 November 2025. Bases 3,466 to 3,492 per statement.
Among those aware of in-game items, 55% had opened virtual surprise boxes with in-game money. The 2025 wording was amended, so these are not comparable with earlier waves.
Separately, 30% of young people gambled with their own money in the past 12 months, up from 27% in 2024, while 1.2% scored 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J screen, unchanged since 2022.
Household context matters here, and our parents who game statistics cover parental control adoption in more detail. The Common Sense sample was boys only; our women gamer demographics cover the other half.
What Comes Next For Loot Box Regulation?
The European Parliament adopted its Protection of Minors Online resolution on 26 November 2025 by 483 votes to 92, with 86 abstentions. It calls on the Commission to outlaw loot boxes and other randomised gaming features.
That text is non-legislative. The binding instrument behind it, the Digital Fairness Act, sits in the Commission’s 2026 work programme for the fourth quarter and had not been tabled as of August 2026.
In New York, Assembly Bill A9044, introduced by Clyde Vanel in September 2025, was amended and recommitted to committee on 14 April 2026. It has not passed.
Spending keeps rising regardless. Global in-app purchase revenue across the App Store and Google Play reached USD 167 billion in 2025, up 10.6% year over year, while downloads grew 0.8% to 149 billion.
Source: Sensor Tower, State of Mobile 2026, published 21 January 2026, covering iOS and Google Play only.
Sensor Tower describes a monetisation-first market driven by engagement rather than downloads. Our gacha game spending statistics break that down, and Brazil’s place among fast-growing gaming markets explains why its ruling matters beyond its borders.
FAQs
What is the new PEGI rating for loot boxes?
Any game submitted to PEGI from June 2026 selling paid random items gets a minimum PEGI 16. Games already classified keep their ratings unless a content update forces reclassification.
Which countries have banned loot boxes?
Belgium is the clearest case. Its Gaming Commission ruled in April 2018 that paid loot boxes are gambling under the Gambling Act. Brazil bars them for minors under ECA Digital from March 2026.
Where do the loot box odds quoted on Reddit come from?
Odds cited in Reddit threads usually trace back to in-game disclosure screens or regulator filings. The FTC complaint against Cognosphere put the chance of a featured five-star character at 0.3% per pull.
Do Reddit posts about an EU-wide loot box ban reflect current law?
No. The European Parliament resolution of 26 November 2025 calling to outlaw loot boxes passed 483 to 92 but is non-legislative. The Digital Fairness Act proposal is due in the fourth quarter of 2026.
How many games actually disclose loot box odds?
In South Korea, 84.4% of the 90 top-grossing iPhone games containing paid loot boxes disclosed probabilities. In Japan, 90.1% of 91 such games disclosed odds for at least one loot box.
Sources
https://pegi.info/news/pegi-expands-age-rating-criteria-interactive-risk-categories
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/report/young-people-and-gambling-2025-official-statistics