A STUDY by York St John University has claimed there is a link between video games and gambling.

A study into more than 8,500 gamers by Dr David Zendle, of York St John University, with Dr Paul Cairns of the University of York, found loot boxes in games were “psychologically akin to gambling”, and called for age restrictions on games.

The report found the worse people’s problem gambling was, the more they spent on loot boxes - in-game bonuses which cost real money and generate $30bn for games companies each year - and said the games industry now faced a crisis of conscience

Dr Zendle said: “Our research suggests that loot boxes either literally cause problem gambling, or, alternatively, allow games companies to exploit serious gambling problems amongst their customers for massive monetary gain.

“We recommend that games with loot boxes are restricted to players of legal gambling age.”