Brazil bans the sale of loot boxes to minors

Brazil’s president has signed a ban on the sale of loot boxes to players under 18 years old, as part of a larger online safety law.

As reported by Eurogamer, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the ECA Digital law earlier this month, the country’s first dedicated law to provide protection for “children and adolescents in digital environments.”

Article 20 of the law, which falls under chapter seven’s “electronic games” section, states that:

“Loot boxes offered in electronic games aimed at children and adolescents or likely to be accessible by them are prohibited, in accordance with the respective age rating” (translated via Google Translate).

The legislation defines loot boxes (or “reward boxes”) as:

“Functionality available in certain electronic games that allows the player to acquire, upon payment, consumable virtual items or random advantages, redeemable by the player or user, without prior knowledge of their content or guarantee of their effective usefulness.”

The law also specifies that it considers “situations considered likely access by children and adolescents” as the “sufficient probability of use and attractiveness” of the product or service by minors, the “considerable ease of access and use” of the product or service by minors, and the “significant degree of risk to the privacy, security or biopsychosocial development of children and adolescents,” especially when products “aim to enable social interaction and the sharing of information on a large scale between users in a digital environment.”

The law comes into effect in March 2026, meaning that, from that point, game companies can no longer sell loot boxes to players under the age of 18.

In addition, Article 21 of the law requires that games that include user-to-user interaction features, such as voice chat or user content sharing, and are “aimed at” or “likely to be accessed by” children and adolescents, must comply with certain safeguards.

These safeguards include offering a “system for receiving and processing complaints and reports of abuse and irregularities” and providing “social transparency” on the number of complaints and violations, reminiscent of the UK’s Online Safety Act.

In 2018, Belgium outright banned the sale of loot boxes in video games, with the Belgium Gaming Commission declaring at the time that the “practice violates gambling legislation.” Those who violate the law face a fine and prison sentence, which can be doubled “if minors are also involved.”