Online games must not let children gamble

Responsible parents who monitor their children’s online game-playing to protect them from unsuitable sexual and violent content may be unaware that another menace lurks within. Many of these games are being used to fuel gambling. Cosmetic alterations to a player’s weapons, avatars or equipment are available as rewards in-game or can be purchased for real money. These can then be gambled or exchanged for money on unregulated third-party digital marketplaces, accessible from the UK. A survey undertaken by the Gambling Commission found that around half of children aged 11 to 16 were “aware of ” the practice of betting with skins (as these virtual goods are known) and that 11 per cent of them had done so.

Just a generation ago, this country frowned on gambling to such an extent that even setting up a national lottery was controversial. Betting was tightly regulated and could not be advertised. Many of those restraints have been lifted and most people will argue that in a free country adults should be allowed to gamble if they choose.

But encouraging children to do so is a different matter. There is a relative absence of regulation and policing in games that needs to change. Gambling addiction is a serious problem and we would no more want our children to be exposed to the risk than to taking drugs or drinking alcohol. Gambling sites themselves are licensed, yet as Tim Miller, chief executive of the commission, observed, “many children’s experiences of gambling-style activities are coming from the playground, the games console or social media rather than the bookmaker, the casino or the gambling website”.

There is a simple remedy, which is for games publishers to either remove the skins element, or the ability to trade them. Does it really make the experience any better? Alternatively, they should make it clear on the games that they include skins and in-game payments and parents can decide whether their children should be allowed to play. If there is a consequent decline in sales, the manufacturers will soon get the message.

Legally, if in-game items can be turned into a cash value through betting, the marketplaces should be licensed. But the safeguards that are attached to other forms of gambling do not apply to skin marketplaces. The Government should ensure that they do.