Research
Loot boxes and skins: legal research
How each gaming mechanic works, and where it is enforced. By Kale Pasch, JD, CFA, a former Skadden, Arps attorney.
5 of 31 pieces
- Sweepstakes casinos 12
- Prediction markets 10
- Loot boxes and skins 5
- Online casinos and sportsbooks 3
- Supplier licensing 1
Published on this site
- Loot boxes and skinsCard breaks and livestreamed pack openings: retail sale or lottery?What California’s and New York’s tests ask, what is alleged in the pending matters over randomized card breaks, and what eBay, Whatnot and Fanatics Live require of a break in their own rules.Oct 17, 2026 · 7 min
- Loot boxes and skinsGacha odds disclosure: what app stores, the FTC, Korea and China requireWhat a game must disclose about randomized items, and where, under the Apple and Google store rules, an FTC order, Korea’s enforcement decree and a 2016 Chinese ministry notice, with one publisher’s disclosure as an example.Oct 17, 2026 · 6 min
- Loot boxes and skinsMystery card packs and box breaks: the structures and their economicsFive ways platforms’ own rules let randomized cards be sold online, what each tells the buyer in advance, and what a break costs the seller in published fees, with one worked example whose assumptions are labelled.Oct 17, 2026 · 7 min
- Loot boxes and skinsLoot boxes and skins: the full analysis for buildersEvery loot box has chance built in. Whether it is gambling turns on the other two ends: what the player stakes and whether the item can be worth something outside the game. The statutes, the cases from Kater to the Robux ruling, New York’s suit against Valve, the platform terms on transfer and cash-out, the odds rules, and the structures publishers use.Sep 28, 2026 · 23 min
- Loot boxes and skinsLoot boxes and skins: what they are and the test that decides themA paid key, a random cosmetic item and, in some games, a market to sell it in. Under state gambling law the deciding question is whether the item is “something of value” — read here against Valve’s own terms, New York’s lawsuit, Kater and the app-store rules.Sep 28, 2026 · 8 min