{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T17:45:35Z","timestamp":1787161535648,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]],"date-time":"2021-04-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1617667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009193","name":"Marsden Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MAU1804"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MAU1804"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009193","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000266","name":"Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000266","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Loot boxes are digital containers of randomised rewards present in some video games which are often purchasable for real world money. Recently, concerns have been raised that loot boxes might approximate traditional gambling activities, and that people with gambling problems have been shown to spend more on loot boxes than peers without gambling problems. Some argue that the regulation of loot boxes as gambling-like mechanics is inappropriate because similar activities which also bear striking similarities to traditional forms of gambling, such as collectable card games, are not subject to such regulations. Players of collectible card games often buy sealed physical packs of cards, and these \u2018booster packs\u2019 share many formal similarities with loot boxes. However, not everything which appears similar to gambling requires regulation. Here, in a large sample of collectible card game players (n = 726), we show no statistically significant link between in real-world store spending on physical booster and problem gambling (p = 0.110, \u03b7\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    = 0.004), and a trivial in magnitude relationship between spending on booster packs in online stores and problem gambling (p = 0.035, \u03b7\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    = 0.008). Follow-up equivalence tests using the TOST procedure rejected the hypothesis that either of these effects was of practical importance (\u03b7\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    &gt; 0.04). Thus, although collectable card game booster packs, like loot boxes, share structural similarities with gambling, it appears that they may not be linked to problem gambling in the same way as loot boxes. We discuss potential reasons for these differences. Decisions regarding regulation of activities which share structural features with traditional forms of gambling should be made on the basis of definitional criteria as well as whether people with gambling problems purchase such items at a higher rate than peers with no gambling problems. Our research suggests that there is currently little evidence to support the regulation of collectable card games.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0247855","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]],"date-time":"2021-04-06T13:32:42Z","timestamp":1617715962000},"page":"e0247855","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Links between problem gambling and spending on booster packs in collectible card games: A conceptual replication of research on loot boxes"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0279-6439","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"David","family":"Zendle","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lukasz","family":"Walasek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Cairns","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rachel","family":"Meyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aaron","family":"Drummond","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0247855.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"530","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562-018-0360-1","article-title":"Video game loot boxes are psychologically akin to gambling","author":"A. Drummond","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. Hum. Behav."},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0247855.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0206767","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0206767","article-title":"Video game loot boxes are linked to problem gambling: Results of a large-scale survey","volume":"13","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2018","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref003","first-page":"1","article-title":"Why loot boxes could be regulated as gambling","author":"A. Drummond","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref004","unstructured":"IGEA, \u201cSubmission to Senate Environment and Communications References Committee,\u201d text, Jul. 2018. Accessed: Dec. 01, 2018. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/Parliamentary_Business\/Committees\/Senate\/Environment_and_Communications\/Gamingmicro-transactions\/Submissions."},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0247855.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"310","DOI":"10.1089\/glr.2004.8.310","article-title":"The Cardstock Chase, Trading Cards: A Legal Lottery","volume":"8","author":"K. D. Craddock","year":"2004","journal-title":"Gaming Law Rev."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref006","article-title":"Associations between loot box use, problematic gaming and gambling, and gambling-related cognitions","author":"G. A. Brooks","year":"2019","journal-title":"Addict. Behav."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref007","article-title":"Loot box limit-setting: A potential policy to protect video game users with gambling problems?","author":"A. Drummond","year":"2019","journal-title":"Addiction"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0247855.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0230378","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0230378","article-title":"The relationship between problem gambling, excessive gaming, psychological distress and spending on loot boxes in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and the United States\u2014A cross-national survey","volume":"15","author":"A. Drummond","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLOS ONE"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/j.addbeh.2019.05.016","article-title":"The relationship of loot box purchases to problem video gaming and problem gambling","volume":"97","author":"W. Li","year":"2019","journal-title":"Addict. Behav."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref010","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2019","journal-title":"Only problem gamblers spend less money when loot boxes are removed from a game: A before and after study of Heroes of the Storm"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.9466","article-title":"Beyond loot boxes: a variety of gambling-like practices in video games are linked to both problem gambling and disordered gaming","volume":"8","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2020","journal-title":"PeerJ"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref012","article-title":"Paying for loot boxes is linked to problem gambling, regardless of specific features like cash-out and pay-to-win","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2019","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref013","volume-title":"PloS One","author":"D. Zendle"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref014","article-title":"The prevalence of loot boxes in mobile and desktop games","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2020","journal-title":"Addiction"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0247855.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0232780","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0232780","article-title":"The changing face of desktop video game monetisation: An exploration of exposure to loot boxes, pay to win, and cosmetic microtransactions in the most-played Steam games of 2010\u20132019","volume":"15","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLOS ONE"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0247855.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"190049","DOI":"10.1098\/rsos.190049","article-title":"Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase","volume":"6","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2019","journal-title":"R. Soc. Open Sci."},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0247855.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1360-0443.2002.00015.x","article-title":"A pathways model of problem and pathological gambling","volume":"97","author":"A. Blaszczynski","year":"2002","journal-title":"Addiction"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0247855.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"754","DOI":"10.1002\/gps.1357","article-title":"Problem and pathological gambling are associated with poorer mental and physical health in older adults","volume":"20","author":"L. Erickson","year":"2005","journal-title":"Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.31234\/osf.io\/u5dmr","article-title":"Loot box spending in video games is linked to problem gambling severity","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2018"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0247855.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0213194","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0213194","article-title":"Loot boxes are again linked to problem gambling: Results of a replication study","volume":"14","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2019","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0247855.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"724","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(19)30285-8","article-title":"Loot boxes and the convergence of video games and gambling","volume":"6","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet Psychiatry"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref022","volume-title":"Adolescent Gambling","author":"M. Griffiths","year":"1995"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref023","first-page":"2018","article-title":"Loot boxes: An industry at war with itself over a technicality","volume":"12","author":"Dec","journal-title":"GamesIndustrybiz"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref024","volume-title":"Loot Boxes in Video Games\u2014Call for Evidence","author":"DCMS","year":"2020"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref025","unstructured":"AnEsonGib, THE WORLDS LUCKIEST TOTS PACK OPENING!!! FIFA 19. 2019."},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0247855.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"457","DOI":"10.1007\/s10899-007-9061-9","article-title":"Full of sound and fury, signifying something: the impact of autonomic arousal on EGM gambling","volume":"23","author":"M. J. Rockloff","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Gambl. Stud."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0247855.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"343","DOI":"10.1007\/s10899-012-9304-2","article-title":"Arousal and gambling mode preference: A review of the literature","volume":"29","author":"J. Baudinet","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Gambl. Stud."},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0247855.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1419","DOI":"10.1016\/j.euroneuro.2016.06.013","article-title":"Largely overlapping neuronal substrates of reactivity to drug, gambling, food and sexual cues: A comprehensive meta-analysis","volume":"26","author":"H. R. Noori","year":"2016","journal-title":"Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol."},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0247855.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"787","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsych.2005.04.037","article-title":"Cue-Induced Brain Activity in Pathological Gamblers","volume":"58","author":"D. N. Crockford","year":"2005","journal-title":"Biol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref030","article-title":"Parke, \u201cThe psychology of music in gambling environments: an observational research note","author":"J Griffiths and","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Gambl. Issues JGI"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref031","unstructured":"Seatin Man of Legends, 300x Cavalier Crystal Opening\u2014Pep\u2019s $2,000 5 & 6 Star Opening\u2014Marvel Contest of Champions. 2019."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref032","unstructured":"ChrisMD, What Does Spending \u00a35000 on FIFA 18 Packs Get You? 2017."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref033","article-title":"Government makes U-turn over delay to \u00a32 FOBT maximum stake","author":"R. Davies","year":"2018","journal-title":"The Guardian"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0247855.ref034","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.3109\/00952990.2011.643978","article-title":"Relations among delay discounting, addictions, and money mismanagement: Implications and future directions","volume":"38","author":"K. R. Hamilton","year":"2012","journal-title":"Am. J. Drug Alcohol Abuse"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0247855.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"449","DOI":"10.1901\/jaba.2003.36-449","article-title":"Delay Discounting by Pathological Gamblers","volume":"36","author":"M. R. Dixon","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Appl. Behav. Anal."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0247855.ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/S0376-8716(99)00010-1","article-title":"Excessive discounting of delayed rewards in substance abusers with gambling problems","volume":"56","author":"N. M. Petry","year":"1999","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Depend."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref037","article-title":"The hidden intricacy of loot box design: A granular description of random monetized reward features","author":"N. Ballou","year":"2020","journal-title":"PsyArXiv"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref038","article-title":"Predatory monetisation? A categorisation of unfair, misleading, and aggressive monetisation techniques in digital games from the perspective of players","author":"E. Petrovskaya","year":"2021","journal-title":"PsyArXiv"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0247855.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"532","DOI":"10.1037\/a0015808","article-title":"An effect size primer: A guide for clinicians and researchers.","volume":"40","author":"C. J. Ferguson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Prof. Psychol. Res. Pract."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref040","volume-title":"The Canadian problem gambling index","author":"J. A. Ferris","year":"2001"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0247855.ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1007\/s10899-012-9300-6","article-title":"Validity of the problem gambling severity index interpretive categories","volume":"29","author":"S. R. Currie","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Gambl. Stud."},{"issue":"28","key":"pone.0247855.ref042","first-page":"1","article-title":"Estimating the prevalence of adult problem gambling in Italy with SOGS and PGSI","author":"C. Barbaranelli","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Gambl. Issues"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0247855.ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"349","DOI":"10.1111\/1753-6405.12254","article-title":"A preliminary adaptation of the Problem Gambling Severity Index for Indigenous Australians: Internal reliability and construct validity","volume":"38","author":"S. Bertossa","year":"2014","journal-title":"Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0247855.ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1080\/14459790903567132","article-title":"PGSI and DSM-IV in the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey: reliability, item response, factor structure and inter-scale agreement","volume":"10","author":"J. Orford","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. Gambl. Stud."},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0247855.ref045","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"355","DOI":"10.1177\/1948550617697177","article-title":"Equivalence Tests","volume":"8","author":"D. Lakens","year":"2017","journal-title":"Soc. Psychol. Personal. Sci."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0247855.ref046","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.112.1.155","article-title":"A power primer.","volume":"112","author":"J. Cohen","year":"1992","journal-title":"Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref047","volume-title":"Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Problem Gambling","author":"S. Garea","year":"2020"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0247855.ref048","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1007\/s10899-016-9624-8","article-title":"A critical review of the harm-minimisation tools available for electronic gambling","volume":"33","author":"A. Harris","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Gambl. Stud."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0247855.ref049","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444818786216","article-title":"eSports, skins and loot boxes: Participants, practices and problematic behaviour associated with emergent forms of gambling","volume":"21","author":"J. Macey","year":"2019","journal-title":"New Media Soc."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref050","article-title":"Loot Boxes, Gambling, and Problem Gambling Among Young People: Results from a Cross-Sectional Online Survey","author":"H. Wardle","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw."},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref051","volume-title":"The Battle Pass: a Mixed-Methods Investigation into a Growing Type of Video Game Monetisation","author":"E. Petrovskaya","year":"2020"},{"key":"pone.0247855.ref052","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e7700","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.7700","article-title":"Problem gamblers spend less money when loot boxes are removed from a game: a before and after study of Heroes of the Storm","volume":"7","author":"D. Zendle","year":"2019","journal-title":"PeerJ"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0247855","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]],"date-time":"2021-04-06T13:33:19Z","timestamp":1617715999000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0247855"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Stefano","family":"Triberti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]]},"references-count":52,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0247855","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,6]]}}}