Austria’s Supreme Court has issued a landmark ruling in favor of Electronic Arts (EA), deciding that packs in the Ultimate Team mode of EA Sports FC do not constitute illegal gambling.
The court concluded that “the process of purchasing loot boxes cannot be assessed in isolation from the rest of the video game for the purposes of evaluating gambling legislation.” Austrian gambling laws prohibit players from placing bets on games of chance, but allow spending money in games on skills. The Supreme Court ruled that EA FC falls into the latter category.
Previously, a user filed a lawsuit against EA after losing nearly €20,000 on in-game purchases between October 2017 and October 2021. He claimed that the game’s randomized reward packs should be considered a form of gambling.
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