Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

While my continuing campaign to call out the bad behaviour of the gambling industry is well known, today I want to sound the alarm about an insidious gateway to gambling that's being widely used to target our kids.

And that's what they call loot boxes, which is a video game feature where players pay to chance their luck at winning additional virtual assets to use during the game. This is gambling by any definition and is routinely being experienced by children and adolescents right around Australia. No wonder gambling companies are buying up online gaming companies.

In other words the outlay of money, an element of chance or risk, a tantalising prize and the psychological thrill of the anticipation—these are all features most people associate with poker machines or casino games, surely not with the games our children are playing.

But, despite researchers warning that these craftily created features are 'structurally and psychologically akin to gambling', they are still not being properly regulated.

And that's why today I'm introducing my Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Loot Boxes) Bill 2022,whichaims to regulate how computer, video and online games that contain these loot boxes are classified.

In essence the bill requires the Classification Board to consider loot boxes when classifying a game, and to set a minimum classification of R18+ or RC for games containing this feature in line with the fact that you must be 18 to legally gamble in Australia.

The amendments also require a warning to be displayed when games contain loot-box-type mechanisms. This means young people will be restricted from buying and playing games with these features, and parents will be able to easily identify when these rather surreptitious tactics are included in gameplay.

Many parents may not know that loot boxes feature in games such as Star Wars, Call of Duty, FIFA and even Mario Kart. Indeed research by the Australian Gaming Council found 62 per cent of the bestselling games contained loot boxes, and that all young people surveyed had played a game featuring loot boxes.

Disturbingly, the study also revealed that young people who had used loot boxes were more likely to have gambled in the last 12 months, gambled more frequently, spent more money gambling and suffered more gambling problems.

And those who played games with loot boxes alarmingly tended to have more positive attitudes towards gambling. This is consistent with the findings of the study, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal in August 2022, which surveyed more than 2,700 participants who bought video game loot boxes and uncovered a strong link between their purchase and problem gambling.

No wonder, when I flagged my intention to introduce this bill during the previous parliament, I was hit by a cascade of concern from the community, especially from parents who've watched their children succumb to addiction because of loot-box features in certain games.

One mother told me about her then 17-year-old son spending $3½ thousand in just eight weeks on loot boxes. He could not hold down a job because of his gaming addiction. Now, almost 24, her son still spends money on the online gaming platform Steam, at times haemorrhaging hundreds of dollars a day. The family, she says, has been through hell.

To use her words: 'What people don't understand is the brain of a gamer is exactly the same as that of a heroin addict. It's no different, it's a dopamine hit. Gaming companies employ experts to work with them to ensure that their games grab people's attention. The first levels are easy, then the gamer gets hooked and they want to go further.

'So the game throws up incentives, or loot boxes, to help the gamer get past that level that has stumped them for the past week, such as, "Buy this gun and you will get more points and be higher in the game; leave your "friends" now to go and have dinner and you will let your team down and they won't want you to play with them again." These companies are very smart and are making billions and it's wrong.'

Clearly we cannot continue to let our children to be groomed for future gambling in this way. No wonder governments around the world are beginning to wise up and take action, with loot boxes already banned in several countries as pressure rises for regulation in many others.

By tempting young players with the potential-to-win game-changing items, encouraging risk-taking behaviour for a possible reward, delivering random prizes on an intermittent basis and encouraging them to keep spending money, it's clear that loot boxes give rise to many of the same emotions and experiences associated with poker machines and other traditional gambling activities.

This problem has been on the radar of the parliament for many years, and it's time we did something about it.

Indeed, two Senate inquiries, in 2018 and 2020, found that loot boxes meet the 'the five established psychological criteria for gambling', and recommended the department of communications undertake a review of their use, and the eSafety Commissioner report on options to restrict their sale in Australia.

And now the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs is again looking at this. I look forward to reading the committee's final report, but I urge the government to act on this as a matter of urgency.

I do commend the former minister for communications, Paul Fletcher, for the previous government's commitment to require mandatory age classifications and warnings. And I note that the current communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has sought advice on whether further regulation is required. So I urge the government to take note of the research that has already been done as well as the compelling evidence that continues to emerge and to support this bill.

The evidence is clear. The government needs to step up and regulate these practices so young people aren't exposed to these insidious gambling tactics within their video games. The potential for long-term harm is undeniable. The changes proposed in my bill will go a long way to ensuring this predatory in-game behaviour is no longer allowed to continue unchecked.

I commend the bill to the House.

And in my remaining time I invite the member for Fisher, who is seconding the bill, to make some remarks. I take from him seconding the bill and hope that the opposition will also support my private member's bill.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the bill. During my time as Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I led an inquiry into age verification for online wagering and online pornography, producing the Protecting the Age of Innocence report. We called for urgent action to 'protect children from gambling-like incentives used by tech giants and video game creators to generate microtransactions for chance-based, mystery virtual items'. As I said then, these exploitative and deceptive in-game purchases have created a global billion-dollar industry at the expense of our youth—and, it has to be said, for their families.

As the member for Clark has pointed out, in August, a study into loot boxes found that there is a strong correlation between loot box and gaming purchases and problem gambling. The coalition has continually fought to keep kids safe online, including in the face of growing big tech and social media influence. It was often said, when we were in government, that you shouldn't be able to do online what you can't do online in the real world. Children under the age of 18 can't walk into an RSL and play the pokies. They can't walk into a TAB and put a bet on a horserace, and yet these loot boxes are effectively a form of gambling that is being delivered to young people's homes, into their bedrooms and living rooms.

I'm very pleased that when we were in government—thanks to the Protecting the age of innocence report and the work that we undertook as a committee—we were able to secure a commitment for mandatory age classifications from the then communications minister, and we took a number of steps to empower the eSafety Commissioner to tackle these issues. Unfortunately, the election got in the way, as it has with many things, but, as they say, that's life in a democracy.

This measure is a step in the right direction, and I want to commend the member for Clark. We have our differences on many things, but the member for Clark has been an absolute strident champion in his desire to clean up the gambling industry—as have I. We stand shoulder to shoulder in this place to put big tech and the big gambling companies on notice that he and I, and anyone who wants to join us, will fight shoulder to shoulder to protect Australians who have become vulnerable to gambling.

I'm not advocating for gambling to be made illegal—I won't speak for the member Clark; that would be inappropriate—but there is so much that we need to do in this place to protect vulnerable Australians. Yes, it's uncomfortable for some people. Yes, it's uncomfortable for parties. But together we can do this. It is a sensible start to introduce this bill to introduce age classifications, something that will protect our most vulnerable. I support the bill, and I congratulate the member for Clark for bringing it to the House.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.