Adam Lantz watched his then eight-year-old daughter strut her digital avatar down the runway.
In the free version of a game on the Roblox platform, where kids dress up to impress their peers with the aim of becoming the next “Top Model,” players are limited to “basic outfits,” said Lantz, a Kitchener man who described himself as a techie and a lifelong gamer.
When the votes were counted, Lantz’s daughter said her friends kept rating her three out of five stars. But then a message popped up, explaining that if she bought “Robux,” an in-game currency bought with real-world money, she could access the coveted “VIP Room” along with its exclusive outfits, hairstyles and accessories.
Lantz recognized the feature: Small, in-game purchases to unlock new content, features and season passes, known as microtransactions. If you’re not familiar, your kids probably are — almost half of students who played video games over the last year reported spending real currency to make in-game purchases, according to an Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on Monday.
The study, which surveyed 11,108 Grade 7 to 12 students across Ontario between December 2024 and June 2025, also found that one in six students reported symptoms of a video game addiction and one in 10 played video games for five hours or more a day.
Some experts are concerned about microtransactions, especially “loot boxes,” which are randomized containers with unpredictable awards, and the way they’re designed and promoted. They say they could be making online gaming even more addictive for youth, and emerging research shows they could serve as a gateway to gambling later on.
Lantz remembered microtransactions from his World of Warcraft days, which had a similar free-to-play model as Roblox, primarily depending on premium subscriptions and in-game purchases for revenue. But as he looked at his daughter, who pleaded for Robux, he said the game’s revenue model suddenly felt “gross” and “predatory.”
“It didn’t pass the sniff test,” said Lantz, who ultimately deleted the app.
“I have no problem dropping 10 bucks on a game,” he added. “I have a problem dropping 10 bucks on Roblox, so my kid can buy a red car when the black car was free.”
Loot box craze
Microtransactions have been in video games for decades, but are now a nearly industry-wide standard — ubiquitous across devices and generating billions of dollars for some of the world’s largest video game companies.
When loot boxes, which are randomized, first exploded in popularity around 2018-19, the gaming industry’s response was to call them “surprise mechanics,” said Luke Clark, a psychology professor and director of the Centre for Gambling Research at the University of British Columbia. The industry argued they’re no different than a Kinder Surprise egg.
But Clark points to parallels between loot boxes and slot machines, from their continuous, immediate, and nearly unlimited nature to the spinning wheel graphics they emulate from gambling games.
He has conducted and led studies focused on young adults that tracked how much participants spent on loot boxes and other in-game purchases over time. They found that gamers who spent more on loot boxes were “significantly more likely” to begin gambling after the study concluded.
“We do see evidence for this kind of gateway effect,” Clark said, adding that they can’t link it to forming gambling problems, but only initiating gambling.
Are microtransactions making games more addictive?
Dr. Peter Selby, an addictions expert and senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said certain aspects of microtransactions hit the same receptors that trigger the brain’s reward system and can lead to addictive behaviours. They provide an immediate sense of winning a prize, or in the case of disappointment, “chasing the loss.”
Loot boxes don’t show what’s inside, which keeps kids coming back to collect the next reward, as the surprise element builds anticipation and uncertainty, he added.
“I think there’s a sinister use of psychological processes on human vulnerabilities,” Selby said.
Kids can be more susceptible to forming addictive and compulsive behaviours because the reward-pathway system is in a “hyperlearning phase” during adolescence, as the brain lays the foundation for future decision-making and emotional regulation.
Video game and gambling addictions can lead to physical and mental health problems, but also create tremendous family disruption, Selby added, describing anger, violence and families who feel “powerless and afraid in their own homes.”
When does it become gambling?
While there are some similarities between microtransactions and traditional forms of gambling, Nigel Turner, a gambling expert, CAMH scientist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, argues it only becomes gambling if players can cash out for items they buy in-game.
It’s not allowed on most large platforms, like Roblox and Fortnite, but there are unsanctioned, third-party websites where players can sell rare and valuable items, or even their entire account, Turner said.
“There is a market for them. We found some that were selling their accounts for like $5,000,” said Turner, who noted that players can be banned for the offence.
Addressing any form of addiction requires “creating the safety to recover,” Selby said, starting by recognizing the problem, making it easy for kids to talk about it and having open but difficult conversations on how to shift their identity away from gaming.
“I often say that the person is using, but the suffering is experienced by everybody,” Selby said. “If you take a family systems approach to this, and afford them that support, that is what is needed to recover.”
