Your child asks for permission to buy a pack inside a game.

“What are you buying?” you ask.

“I don’t know exactly,” they say, “but there might be something rare inside.”

The screen fills with colour, a countdown ticks, and the bundle is priced in coins — not rand.

“Just one more,” your child says. “The next one could be the good one.”

You are no longer looking only at a game purchase. You are looking at money being exchanged for an uncertain reward. That does not automatically make the game legally equivalent to gambling. It does mean parents should understand what their child is being invited to do.

Gaming and gambling are not the same

Games can be a genuine good in a child’s life: entertainment, creativity, strategy, problem-solving, teamwork, friendship, and contact with relatives far away. Some of the best family moments happen side by side over a game.

Ordinary games have always used chance — shuffled cards, dice, a randomly generated map, a surprise item earned through play. Chance alone does not make an activity gambling-like. The concern rises when three things come together: payment, uncertainty, and a reward. A useful question: “What is being risked, how is the outcome decided, and what can be won?” This is a parent’s question, not a formal legal or Islamic test.

A spectrum, from an ordinary purchase to gambling

It helps to think of a spectrum, not a single switch.

A known direct purchase. The player pays a stated price for a known item — a costume, an expansion, a character, extra content. You can see exactly what is being bought; it is not a randomised purchase.

An earned random reward. The player earns a surprise item through ordinary play, without spending real money or currency bought with real money. This includes chance, but not necessarily monetary risk.

A paid randomised reward. The player spends real money — or coins bought with real money — without knowing the exact reward in advance. These go by many names: loot boxes, packs, cases, crates, spins, draws, capsules, gacha mechanics. The mechanism is what matters, not the label.

Social casino or simulated gambling. A game imitates slots, roulette, card betting, or other casino-style play, often using virtual currency at first. Repeated exposure may normalise gambling’s look and feel over time. That is a concern about gradual normalisation, not a claim that it inevitably leads to gambling.

Trading and skins markets. Some game items can be exchanged, traded, sold, or used on outside websites — and sometimes staked on uncertain outcomes. Once an item can be converted into real value or wagered, the situation becomes more serious, and legally distinct from buying a cosmetic inside a game.

Actual gambling. Real money or something of value is staked on an uncertain outcome through a gambling operator or betting service. This is legally and practically different from ordinary gaming, and in South Africa it is restricted to adults.

How common mechanics create pressure to spend

Virtual currencies. Money is converted into coins, gems, credits, or points. Bundle sizes may not align exactly with the price of the item a child wants, so leftover currency can encourage another purchase and the rand cost becomes less visible. A simple habit — convert the virtual price back into rand before agreeing — restores some of that visibility. Virtual currencies are not automatically deceptive, but they do distance the action from money.

Randomised rewards and rarity. The exact reward is unknown. Rarity can create status and competitive value; dramatic opening effects can make the purchase feel more rewarding. Even when odds are disclosed, a child may not understand what a “one in fifty” chance feels like over repeated attempts.

Limited-time offers. Countdowns and “available today only” bundles shrink the time to reflect. A child may fear missing a rare item or falling behind friends. Not every limited event is exploitative, but the urgency is worth noticing.

“One more” and chasing. There is a difference between trying again for fun and spending again because a child believes the next purchase will make up for the disappointing ones. The second pattern — chasing — is worth slowing down. Naming it does not diagnose a gambling condition.

Pay-to-win pressure. Some purchases provide progress or competitive advantage. A child may feel they must spend to keep up, and peer pressure can make an optional purchase feel necessary. Not every paid upgrade is pay-to-win.

Influencer and peer pressure. “Pack-opening” videos, rare-item reactions, playground talk about who pulled what, visible inventories and rankings all amplify demand.

Why children find the costs difficult to judge

A child’s sense of probability is still developing. Virtual currency separates the action from rand. Excitement, urgency, social status and limited budgeting experience make the real cost harder to see. A stored card makes payment almost frictionless; a gift card is still real money. Children can confuse “rare” with “likely,” and some develop a quiet belief that several disappointing packs make a good one “due.” Five disappointing packs don’t necessarily make the sixth more likely; outcomes may be independent or follow game-specific rules.

What the evidence does — and does not — show

Adolescent studies and reviews have repeatedly found an association between paid loot-box engagement and gambling-related indicators. A 2025 review of evidence on children and adolescents found a consistent positive association between loot-box engagement and gambling tendencies in adolescents. An earlier study of adolescent gamers found links between loot-box spending and problem gambling; its authors noted the relationship could run in either direction.

What these studies do not show: association is not causation. Many are cross-sectional — a snapshot — so they cannot prove loot boxes caused later gambling problems. Children with certain risk factors may be both more likely to purchase loot boxes and more likely to experience gambling-related difficulties. Design, age, spending method, social setting, and whether items can be traded all matter. Current research does not justify predicting that any particular child will become a gambler.

The UK government reviewed the evidence and concluded that the call for evidence “found an association between loot boxes and harms,” but that it had “not found whether there is a causative link.” The UK Gambling Commission’s Young People and Gambling 2025 survey — based on 3,666 pupils aged 11 to 17 in England, Scotland and Wales — found that around three in ten had spent their own money on some gambling activity in the past year. The figure covers a broad range of activities. The most common was arcade machines such as penny pushers or claw machines, then informal bets between friends or family. Only a much smaller proportion reported betting through a website or app. The 30% figure should therefore not be read as meaning that three in ten British children were using commercial online-betting services. These findings concern Britain, not South African children. Even so, the precautionary concern is reasonable.

A 2026 scoping review of loot-box design identified more than a hundred distinct features — across obfuscation, psychological manipulation, social influence, value manipulation, obstacles to self-regulation, and resemblance to gambling — that can make spending harder to control.

The wider South African context. National Gambling Board reported R74.9 billion in gross gambling revenue for 2024/25, betting 69.9%: market, not child-gaming. The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation has concerns about adults aged 25–34 under financial pressure viewing gambling as quick money — evidence about young adults, not children or loot boxes. Its relevance: teach the difference between spending, uncertainty and chasing. A paid random reward in a game is not a conventional sports bet, and current evidence does not establish that gaming causes later gambling.

In South Africa, gambling is restricted to adults, and licensed operators may not allow anyone under 18 to gamble. The National Gambling Board states that online or interactive gambling is prohibited, with an important exception for online betting — such as sports and horseracing betting — through bookmakers appropriately licensed in South Africa. Parents seeking the latest position should consult the National Gambling Board and the relevant provincial gambling authority.

Some gaming mechanics resemble gambling, but whether a particular mechanic meets the legal definition of gambling depends on the law, how payment works, what the player can win, and whether the reward has transferable or monetary value. South African law does not appear to provide a simple answer for every modern in-game mechanic. In 2026, legal academics at Wits University’s Mandela Institute raised concerns — through a webinar, Grooming Minors through Gambling-Like Gaming Practices — that the National Gambling Act does not clearly capture systems such as loot boxes, largely because virtual rewards are not easily classified as items of monetary value. They noted that the Consumer Protection Act could address misleading design and unfair practices but has not been enforced against developers, and that the Films and Publications Act can classify harmful content yet has not been applied to monetisation design. This is expert commentary about regulatory gaps — not a court ruling, official policy, or binding law. The word “grooming” describes a concern about gradual normalisation, not a clinical causal finding.

The Film and Publication Board classifies games and offers parents consumer advice aimed at protecting children from harmful or age-inappropriate content. An age rating is useful, but it does not by itself evaluate every monetisation mechanic, so it should not be treated as proof that a game’s spending design is safe.

This article is general parent guidance, not legal advice. External skins-betting or item-wagering sites may create a different and more serious legal and safeguarding risk than an ordinary in-game cosmetic purchase.

Seven questions to ask about a game

  1. Does the child know exactly what they receive before paying?
  2. Is real money involved — directly, or through virtual currency?
  3. Are the odds or possible outcomes clearly explained?
  4. Can the item be traded, sold, or used outside the game?
  5. Is there a countdown, scarcity message, or pressure to buy immediately?
  6. Is the child spending because they enjoy the purchase — or trying to recover from previous disappointing purchases?
  7. Can the child enjoy and progress in the game without repeatedly paying?

And three more that are often the most practical: What does this cost in rand? Who controls the payment method? Has the child moved to an external trading or betting site?

A practical family spending plan

1. No stored payment method without an adult decision. Use purchase authentication, age-appropriate account controls, and review the platform’s settings together. No unknown card access.

2. Convert every virtual price into rand. Before agreeing, note the virtual-currency amount, the rand paid for the bundle, and how much currency will be left over. Leftover currency can encourage another purchase.

3. Treat known and random purchases as different decisions. A family may happily allow a known expansion or cosmetic, while declining an unknown paid reward. There is no single universal family rule.

4. No spending under countdown pressure. A simple cooling-off rule: “We do not buy immediately because a timer is running.” The delay might be until after supper, the next day, or until a parent has reviewed it.

5. Never chase a disappointing result. “If the result disappoints us, we do not spend again to try to undo the disappointment.” This single rule protects against the slide from fun to chasing.

Teach the difference between spending and chasing. Spending is choosing something worth the price. Chasing is spending again because the last result disappointed you, hoping the next undoes it.

6. No external item betting or unknown trading sites. Do not sign in through unfamiliar links, do not send items to strangers, do not wager skins or game items, and tell a parent if someone offers money, trades, or betting. This guidance is about staying away from these services, not how to reach them.

7. Review spending together. Use receipts, account purchase histories, and an agreed monthly family limit, kept open in conversation rather than as covert surveillance.

Warning signs worth noticing

None of these signs alone establishes a problem, but together they are worth noticing: repeated hidden purchases; unexplained charges; borrowing money or using cards without permission; lying about the rand value; buying repeatedly after disappointment; pressure to catch up with friends; moving to third-party trading or betting; sending items or money to strangers; distress linked to purchases or losses; neglecting responsibilities to obtain or trade items; or gambling language becoming central to the gaming experience.

One enthusiastic request does not make a problem. Disappointment is not addiction. A rule violation still needs a proportionate response. But secrecy and unauthorised spending do require attention, and coercion, fraud, or actual underage gambling require more serious intervention. Concerns about what children are exposed to online connect to the same wider question of what a child is being pulled towards.

What to do after an unauthorised purchase

  1. Establish exactly what was purchased.
  2. Secure the payment method.
  3. Review the purchase history together.
  4. Check the platform’s current refund or dispute process.
  5. Do not assume a refund is guaranteed.
  6. Distinguish an accidental tap, a misunderstanding, a deliberate purchase, and possible coercion.
  7. Agree on a proportionate consequence.
  8. Restore access gradually as trust is rebuilt.
  9. Seek consumer, banking, or safeguarding assistance where appropriate.

This is not legal advice, and a chargeback should not be filed automatically — first understand the transaction and the platform’s process.

When more support may be needed

Without diagnosing, consider further help where there is: persistent unauthorised spending; stealing or borrowing to continue; repeated attempts to recover losses; external item betting; contact with unknown adults around trades or betting; serious distress; family conflict that cannot be managed safely; actual underage gambling; or fraud or coercion.

In South Africa, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation runs the National Responsible Gambling Programme — a free, confidential 24-hour helpline on 0800 006 008 — offering counselling and treatment for problem gambling and for those close to them.

An Islamic parenting frame

In Islam, maysir — gambling — is prohibited. Money, time, and a child’s access are an amanah, a trust. Repeated impulsive spending can become israf, wastefulness. Adab asks that children not be humiliated for asking questions or admitting a mistake; tarbiyah asks that we teach them, over time, to recognise uncertainty, pressure, and value for themselves. A child who admits spending should be met first with safety and understanding, not alarm. Children also notice what adults do, so parental example is half of this teaching.

Whether a particular mechanic constitutes gambling in Islamic law depends on how payment, chance, and reward operate. Parents who need a ruling on a specific game should describe the exact mechanic to a suitably qualified scholar rather than relying on the game’s marketing label. A useful parent’s question — not a fatwa — is: “Is my child giving something of real value for a result determined mainly by chance?” This article does not issue a ruling on every loot box, gacha mechanic, or random reward; not every game is impermissible. The presence of chance alone does not settle the Islamic ruling; how payment, risk and reward operate must also be considered.

The aim is not only to stop one purchase. It is to help a child recognise when excitement, uncertainty, and urgency are being used to separate them from money.

Fitra Guard’s Home Wi-Fi Protection helps block known gambling sites on devices connected to the protected home network. Complete Family Protection adds child profiles, selected app and service controls, and family routines. These protections can support household boundaries, but they cannot inspect an in-game purchase, reveal the contents of a loot box, or decide whether a particular game mechanic is gambling. Platform purchase controls and family rules remain necessary. These tools do not read game chats, inspect payment details, or guarantee that every gambling-like mechanic is identified. Home Wi-Fi Protection does not protect a phone everywhere; Complete Family Protection does not replace payment authentication or adult supervision.

Sources & further reading · 13 references

Last reviewed: 24 August 2026. Laws, game mechanics and consumer protections may change; see the linked sources for updates.