Ever since 2017’s Star Wars: Battlefront II loot box fiasco, an increasing number of governments have at least considered classifying video game loot boxes as a form of gambling. Despite recent indications to the contrary, however, Ireland is now shying away from labeling them as such.
Irish Legal News reports that Ireland Department of Justice Minister of State David Stanton told the Irish Senate last week that the department, “does not have a role to regulate game developers on how their games work nor, in the offering of in-game purchases.”
Ireland was one of 15 governments earlier this month that signed a declaration from the Gaming Regulators European Forum that described loot boxes as, “blurring of lines between gaming and gambling.”
Source: IGN.com Ireland Backs Down from Labeling Loot Boxes as Gambling