How Can We Accurately Measure Video Game Players’ Use of Gambling-Like Loot Boxes in Surveys?

Loot boxes are novel and highly controversial gateway gambling products found in >80% of video games. Players buy them with real-world money to obtain random rewards, losing money most of the time but also rarely winning valuable prizes. Stakeholders are concerned about their potential harms, particularly to children, including overspending money,normalising gambling behaviours, encouraging gambling participation, and even causing problem gambling and video game addiction. Many countries are considering how to better regulate these products.Two key datapoints inform future policy decisions: (i) what percentage of people use them and (ii) how much money they spend. Approximately 50 relevant studies have been conducted. However, due to major differences in survey language, they asked about different behaviours, making the prevalence data incomparable and arguably failing to accurately and comprehensively measure engagement and spending.Through a systematic review, we will identify those differences and collate a list of previously used survey questions. These contribute towards a future ECS/GRF funding bid in the 2027/28 cycle that will (i) test potential differences between those identified questions and (ii), through developing consensus between academics, policymakers, and people with lived experience, agree on the best questions future research should consistently use to provide high-quality data for better evidence-based policymaking.