The Gam(bl)ing Conference Registration Portal Please use this form to register your attendance of The Gam(bl)ing Conference (28–29 September 2026). Free Event: To enable everyone to attend, there will be NO registration fee for The Gam(bl)ing Con...

The Gam(bl)ing Conference will be a hybrid livestreaming event. Register for free via: tinyurl.com/thegamblingr....

We'll host a conference on the convergence between videogames and gambling in late September 2026 in Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳

Call for papers: tinyurl.com/thegamblingcfp

Let’s think “outside of the loot box.”

Abstract deadline: 26 June 2026
Results notification: 20 July 2026
Conference: 28–29 September 2026

The loot box aspect is dominating the headlines, but PEGI is starting a wider debate about the suitability of limited-time offers, battle passes, and even daily logins to children.

Thanks to @lewispackwood.bsky.social of @gibiz.bsky.social for inviting.

I note also that the non-loot box-related new rules are particularly interesting: many different things will attract a variety of age ratings.

A game's original release date is irrelevant. Its current popularity is. Loot box regulation should address what is happening now. For comparison, Australia's similar rule requires older games that substantially update (i.e., remain in continuous operation) to receive increased age ratings.

Non-retroactivity is cost-effective but fails to reflect commercial realities: most people today play and spend money on games released many years ago and will continue to do so for at least a decade more. This rule will apply to very few games that young people and parents actually care about.

Household names like Roblox, Fortnite, Brawl Stars, and Genshin Impact that were released many years ago and sell loot boxes will all keep their current (lower or the special “!”) age ratings.

PEGI's loot box rule changes are welcome, but they should be retrospective | Opinion Because the rule only applies to new titles, the biggest and most popular games with loot boxes will escape being subject to PEGI's higher age rating

My reactions to how PEGI will rate games with hashtag#LootBoxes 16+ from June 2026. Nice, but 99% of games won't be affected because the rule only applies to newly released games.

www.gamesindustry.biz/pegis-loot-b...

Apply for the postdoc position: www.cityu.edu.hk/hro/en/job/c...

Our current postdoc, @stantium.bsky.social, will be leaving us soon to take up an exciting new position. Like him, the new postdoc will pursue their own research interests in creative media policy and help us manage our leading, continually growing gaming and gambling regulation research group.

Current projects include:

1️⃣: Video game loot box regulatory compliance

2️⃣: Physical gambling-like products, e.g., blind boxes

3️⃣: Social media advertising repository

Apply for the RA position: www.cityu.edu.hk/hro/en/job/c...

Our RAs are enjoying very productive experiences, leading their own projects (including data collection and analysis), receiving feedback on academic writing, developing coding skills, presenting at leading international conferences (3 first-authored DiGRA talks!), and securing PhD opportunities.

We’re recruiting a postdoc and up to 3 research assistants at the Creative Media Policy Observatory (www.cmpo.net), City University of Hong Kong.

Apply for the RA position: www.cityu.edu.hk/hro/en/job/c...

Apply for the postdoc position: www.cityu.edu.hk/hro/en/job/c...

Illegal video game loot boxes with transferable content on steam: a longitudinal study on their presence and non-compliance with and non-enforcement of gambling law Loot boxes are gambling-like mechanics in video games that can be bought with real-world money to obtain random rewards. Regulators in many countries have considered whether different loot box impl...

Many other jurisdictions whose gambling law takes the same position in relation to loot boxes whose prizes could be converted into real money ("cashed out") should take the same approach, as we have argued: doi.org/10.1080/1445...

New York 🇺🇸 Attorney General Letitia James just sued Valve corporation for promoting ILLEGAL gambling through the hashtag#LootBoxes of its Steam games. Currently parsing through the 52-page complaint…

Press release: ag.ny.gov/press-releas...

Complaint: ag.ny.gov/sites/defaul...

Another line worth pursuing is getting the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore to do more and achieve the standard of protection being enforced by its European counterparts. It previously refused to require loot box presence disclosures, even on referral by the UK advertising regulator.

I hope the Government will also consider whether failing to provide blind/loot box probability and presence disclosures is already an "unfair practice" within the meaning of section 4 of the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 (S'pore) (sso.agc.gov.sg/Act-Rev/CPFT...).

The original question referenced both physical and virtual gambling-like products, but the answer only explicitly referred to physical ones. We shall see how wide the regulations will be. I do not think a distinction should be drawn in terms of requiring basic transparency disclosures.

K. Shanmugam, on behalf of the Government, answered that blind box regulations will be introduced. The specific provisions are currently being drafted, and the suggested probability disclosure requirements are being considered.

Earlier this month, in the Singaporean Parliament 🇸🇬, Dennis Lip Fong TAN 陈立峰 asked the Government about any plans to require probability disclosures for #BlindBoxes and #Gacha.

www.mha.gov.sg/media-room/n...

Thanks also to all presenters, attendees, reviewers, and the University’s many support teams (IT, catering, & events).

Thanks to our great team (Xiaoyao Ren, Elvis Lo, Xiaoyu Xiong, Yuchen Huang) and invited speakers (@hmblakey.bsky.social, Benjamin Horn, Yeonwoo Lee, @jjol33n.bsky.social, Yixiang Que, @anhthu.bsky.social, Orlando Woods, Claudia Fu, @darthtayrah.bsky.social).

2️⃣: The Gam(bl)ing Conference focused on the gaming and gambling convergence (expected September 2026)
3️⃣: GachaCon 2027 on otome games and beyond (expected February 2027)
etc.
📣 Please stay tuned for more information! 📣

We will host several more game-related conferences at City University of Hong Kong:

1️⃣: History of Games (25–27 June 2026; www.history-of-games.com/2026-hong-ko...)

69 submissions; 42% acceptance rate

60+ authors whose extended abstracts (see: www.cmpo.net/gachacon) we aim to archive in the DiGRA Digital Library

ONE gacha machine

Many probability disclosures of varying quality were hidden around the venue.

Some hard stats!

277 total registrations; 125 physical badges collected

Averaged 70 offline and 30 online attendees throughout

102 in the Discord channel and 91 in the WeChat group

Attendees came from 🇨🇳(🇭🇰)🇯🇵🇰🇷🇸🇬🇮🇳🇬🇧🇩🇪🇫🇷🇪🇸🇳🇱🇩🇰🇫🇮🇲🇹🇺🇸🇨🇦🇦🇺🇧🇷

Held our first conference! #GachaCon2026 focused on Genshin Impact, spanning #GameStudies research on storytelling, world building, player communities, gender, the Chinese industry, game design, psychology, monetisation, regulation, and beyond.

We look forward to welcoming you to City University of Hong Kong!

Please do apply and encourage early career researchers around you to give it a go! That extra push and assurance might be all it takes.

However, that claim was not sufficiently supported by evidence. [64]–[69] This may be a further avenue to explore in the future for Austrian and EU players.