20, 2018.

The Dutch gambling authority launched an investigation into the nature of loot boxes after the initial release of the Star Wars Battlefront II game and the subsequent wave of concerns that the in-game items constituted gambling to an extent and were promoting gambling activities among teenagers and other vulnerable groups of players.

Aside from the legal status of the loot boxes, Kansspelautoriteit also probed into whether these posed addiction risks to players. The regulator found out that all loot boxes it studied “could be addictive”. However, its study read that there were “no indications of loot boxes being opened on a large scale by problem players and/or addicted players”.

According to the regulator’s findings, loot boxes have moderate to high risk potential for addiction. The risk potential generally dependsMichael Stravato for The New York Times

Known to generations of sidewalk gawkers as the Beer Can House, the folk art monument was dedicated Thursday and will open to the public on Saturday for the first time since its purchase from the Milkovisch family and a seven-year restoration project totaling $400,000.