For the first time, the UK Gambling Year-end report on Youth and Gambling has looked at the “awareness and participation rate” of skin gambling (if you’re not sure what it is, here’s a primer). The report states that, “based on the description provided in the questionnaire,” 45 percent of 11-16 year olds knew about this skin gambling, and 11 percent said they had placed bets with in-game items at some point in the past.
“Skins’ are in-game items, used in some of the most popular video game titles. This collection provides cosmetic changes to the player’s weapons, avatars or equipment used in the game,” the report states. “Skin betting sites allow videogamers to enter cosmetic items that are rewarded in-game or purchased for real money on digital marketplaces, accessible from the UK for several years.”
A BBC report on the Gambling Commission paper leads with statistics on skin gambling and goes on to say that some 370,000 11-16 year olds in England, Scotland and Wales reported spending their own money on gambling at least once in the previous week. But the context is misleading: The numbers are accurate, at least within the limits of survey error, but cover all forms of gambling, including slot machines, scratch cards, and betting with friends (“five dollars says you can’t make it jump”). Further, the figure “is a continuation of the long-term decline seen since 2011,” when 23 percent of 11-15 year olds reported taking part in some form of gambling during the previous week.
The prevalence of gambling with in-game items increased with age, from three percent of 11-year-olds to 14 percent of 14-16-year-olds, and was higher among children who had spent money on other forms of gambling during the past week, or who have played “online gambling games”, such as casino games, slot machines, or poker. Actually, the level of playing the game corresponds to the incidence rate of skin gambling, which is 11 percent.
It’s the ability to convert in-game items to cash indicating activity as gambling for reporting purposes, not the actual conversion itself – the fact that skins can be converted to cash, not what they actually are. That’s also how the concept was introduced to survey respondents: “While playing computer games/apps, it is sometimes possible to collect in-game items (e.g. weapons, power-ups and tokens). For some games, it is possible to bet with these in-game items to get more of them. ”
“The Gambling Commission is of the opinion that the ability to convert in-game items into cash, or to exchange them (for other items of value) means that they reach real-world value and become items of value or money. Where gambling facilities are offered to UK consumers, including with the use of in-game items that can be converted into cash or traded (for items of value), a gambling license is required,” the report said. “Dealing with operators who make gambling facilities available to children is one of the Gambling Commission’s priorities.”
In other words, it is people who run gambling sites without a license that the Gambling Commission can target, and not the games themselves, or the companies that make them. In fact, earlier this year the commission succeeded in following up on YouTuber Craig “Nepenthez” Douglas and his business partner Dylan Rigby, who run the FUT Galaxy website that allows gambling on real-world football matches using FIFA 17’s virtual currency. But that currency can also be exchanged. for real money, contrary to the UK Gambling Act and cost the duo £255,000 (4.6 Million IDR) in fines.
“Because of this unlicensed skin betting site, existing protections are not being implemented and we are seeing examples of young people aged 11 and 12, who are involved in skin betting, not realizing it is gambling,” Gambling Commission executive commissioner Sarah Harrison told the BBC. . “At one level they run the charge maybe on their parents Paypal account or credit card, but the wider effect is the introduction and normalization of this type of gambling among children and youth.”
