On 29 March 2023, the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, announced the Commonwealth would seek the agreement of the states and territories for stronger regulation of gambling-like content in computer games, via changes to the existing Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2012. 

The Australian Gambling Research Centre (AGRC) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Consultation Draft – Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2023. 

The AGRC has a strong track record in research into young people’s engagement with simulated gambling games (e.g. social casino games) and loot boxes in video games, and we are pleased to see that the findings of our research have been useful for informing the proposed changes to the Guidelines. Our submission is organised into 2 main sections. First, we summarise the key findings from our most recent research which provides background and context to our comments on the Guidelines. Second, we provide some comments on the proposed changes to the Guidelines, including the new mandatory minimum classifications and new definitions.