What are the odds? Lower compliance with Western loot box probability disclosure industry self- regulation than Chinese legal regulation

Paid loot boxes are video game monetisation methods that provide randomised rewards of varying value. Loot boxes are prevalent internationally: approximately 60% of the highest-grossing mobile games in ‘Western’ countries contain loot boxes (Zendle et al., 2020a), as do approximately 90% in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Xiao et al., 2021).1 Loot boxes represent an important revenue stream for the industry: the sale of loot boxes in one single game can generate more than US$528,000 per day from just one country alone (Zendle et al., 2020b). Global loot box spending was estimated to have been US$15 billion in 2020, and is estimated to rise and exceed US$20 billion by 2025 (Juniper Research et al., 2021).