Hawaii State Representative Chris Lee has made good on his plan to write and submit bills to the state legislature regulating the sale of video games with predatory lockboxes. The four bills are straightforward: Two seek to block the sale of video games with random-reward gambleboxes to people under the age of 21 (gambling age in Hawaii as well as many other US states), while the other pair requires proper labeling of the gambling mechanics on game boxes as well as disclosure of probability rates of items inside the boxes.
As GIbiz points out, up to now the only active bill on the topic in the US was a demand for more research by Washington representatives.
“We don’t need to change the laws in every state,” Lee, who considers himself a gamer, has previously said on the subject of his tactics. “We just need to keep the conversation going, to keep pressure up, and ultimately get enough attention to this issue so that maybe the laws in a couple states change – but that’s enough to compel the industry to build games that meet those laws, to stop exploiting folks who might have gambling addictions and others, and actually create better games.”
Hawaii state rep Chris Lee urges gamers to contact their local governments about lockboxes
Hawaii state representative calls on game industry to self-regulate on lockboxes
Belgium seeks to ban lockboxes as gambling, plus Hawaii and France weigh in
Washington state senator proposes lockbox gambling investigation in new bill
