Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Riot Games Riot Games is currently learning a very expensive lesson about international gambling laws. A Brazilian court just handed down a massive ruling, ordering the League of Legends developer to pay roughly $3 million over its use of loot boxes.
The lawsuit, spearheaded by an association protecting children and adolescents, claims that Riot has been exposing underage players to unregulated gambling mechanics. Along with the hefty fine, the court ordered Riot to pull all randomized microtransactions from the Brazilian client until it can prove that minors cannot buy them.
🚨 Veja todas as empresas que foram condenadas a pagar multas por conta da presença de loot boxes em jogos. O valor total estimado das multas é de mais R$ 300 milhões e as empresas que tiveram os valores maiores foram Tencent, Apple, Microsoft, Google e Sony. Via G1 pic.twitter.com/aelBE872tp
While cracking down on predatory gaming practices sounds great on paper, the wording of this ruling has left many tech lawyers and gamers scratching their heads. The court decided that any sale of a randomized digital asset to minors is subject to penalties.
That definition is wildly broad. It completely ignores the context of how these assets are actually sold, what is inside them, or how the user interface presents them.
Take Hextech chests, for instance. For years, the community has generally praised Hextech crafting as a rare example of engaging, non-predatory monetization. You can earn them entirely for free just by playing well; the drop rates are completely transparent, and they do not pressure players with hyper-aggressive casino styling.
Image Credit: Riot The Real Enemy is the Gacha Ask any esports fan what actually bothers them about modern gaming monetization, and they will tell you it is not the humble Hextech chest. The real villain here is the aggressive shift toward gacha mechanics.
Riot has been leaning heavily into luxury, low-odds gacha systems lately, like the infamous $500 Faker Ahri skin bundle or capsule milestones that require hundreds of dollars to guarantee a specific cosmetic. These systems use psychological FOMO, a fear of missing out, to get players to roll the dice repeatedly for a fraction-of-a-percentage chance of a digital outfit.
That is the exact kind of behavior that riles up the community and catches the attention of government regulators.
One Redditor said of the increased presence of gacha in League of Legends: “I haven’t been playing League for a bit due to not finding the time. I saw the Sahn Uzal skin, only to quickly realize it sadly falls under the ‘Exalted’ scam. I still don’t see how these skins warrant a, what is it, 10x price increase from Ultimate skins.”
They added that gacha shouldn’t be used for “prestigious” or “premium” skins, which should be earned through grinding the game itself.
Added another frustrated player: “I think the fact that there is no feasible way to ‘grind’ for the gacha currency is INSANE. There are like three pulls in each paid pass, which means you ne...