Loot box

And if you're a kid, of course, you don't necessarily understand at all what you're doing.

And loot boxes are a gambling mechanism built into... all popular video games and you pay money of some sort.

It might be game money that you paid money to get the game money, but paying actual money in the end to open something which might give you something you want.

And it doesn't usually give you what you want because this is gambling.

You're going to fall prey to that

so easily.

I imagine loot boxes, especially among young people, might be their first exposure to gambling, and it could serve as a gateway to other forms of gambling.

Yes, and the research is actually very clear that it is.

What we're talking about here is a big government program that has partnered with powerful corporate gambling interests to openly exploit and manipulate the American people, especially young adults in America when it comes to online sports gambling.

Sol, were you suckered in by what I didn't know anything about until yesterday, and that are these loot boxes?

that that wasn't much applicable to me although i will say in terms of games that mimic that sort of early gateway thing i can speak to there was a game i'd play on my ipad in high school called big win sports and essentially it was simulated sports games with little avatars but you would open up mystery packs so in a way it was similar mystery packs that would help enhance your team's attributes And you can play like thousands of these simulated games throughout the day.

And I know a ton of guys that I went to high school with who were just absolutely glued to these FIFA like soccer packs where they would open up packs online.

Let's explain what a loot box is.

So if those of you, if you're a grandparent, a parent, you know, nieces or nephews, like even in video, so we're talking about, what we've been talking about to this point has been these hardcore forms of gambling that states promote.

Like we're talking about here with loot boxes, like they're designing these little technology experiences within video games that millions and millions of American kids play.

where it's all kind of touched on how they work it says you do you want you want more armor for your character this virtual character in this video game you can get it the old-fashioned way by continuing to play the game relentlessly and as you move up the ladder you'll get more armor or you can put more money into the game you can put you just put real money into the game forget to buy this virtual armor that you want but it is no guarantee that you're going to get that specific armor they add an element they call it a loot box where they literally use a random number generator which is the technology behind a slot machine that you put the money into the game but it's not necessarily you're going to get that armor that you want you might get something you know close to it or or another object in it but they're creating a randomization of the experience so they're grooming kids for these types of gambling like experiences and video games of all ages.

So you could buy these briefcases with gold bars that are redeemable for cash.

Speed has this loot box bundle on TikTok shop.

That's a TikTok shop exclusive.

So genius.

You just might not be able to be as custom in all of these elements.

So mine was Squatch.

I didn't know Loot Box was still a thing.

He's got an iShowSpeed Loot Box bundle, TikTok shop.

The games range from battle royales and football simulations to shooters and strategy games, each with its own in-game economies designed to keep players spending.

And his favorite part across these games, loot boxes.

They're also called lucky chests, and they are in-game mystery boxes that let players spend real or virtual currency for a chance at outfits, skins, weapons, and other virtual rewards.

He told me that loot boxes are a big deal, and that he gets a little rush when he opens one, comparing it to something like a Pokemon card.

So I asked him the obvious question: how do you pay for all this? Aarush told me that he knows his nani or grandmother's UPI PIN and even parroted it back to me.

This, it turns out, is not especially unusual.

For Free Fire Max alone, 25% of its lifetime downloads come from India.

Last year's gaming crackdown was designed to target real money games, platforms where players put money or something of monetary value at stake in the expectation of winning more money or another valuable return.

Another one is very prevalent in the youth.

It's something called loot boxes.

Loot boxes.

And subhanAllah, these loot boxes, I don't play games.

It's never really been a big thing for me.

I only found out about them recently.

But these loot boxes, where you pay actual money to get a mystery box, which might have a skin in it, might have something in it, it might have a lot in it, but most of the time it's worthless and useless.

This concept of mystery box is haram.