<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national" rel="" target="_blank" title="Australia "><span>Australia</span></a><span> has been urged to crack down on blind boxes as some experts fear they could be linked to gambling.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Blind boxes are sealed packages that contain a figure or toy from a set inside. Buyers do not know which item they will receive.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>These boxes have surged into a billion-dollar industry in recent years, driven by brands like Chinese toy maker Pop Mart and viral products like </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/labubu-doll-demand-puts-focus-on-pop-mart/5cfb8422-c19b-4ecf-a2e7-9c65956d7c0d" rel="" target="_blank" title="Labubus "><span>Labubus</span></a><span> and Smiskis, with people spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on them.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/petrol-news-australian-competition-and-consumer-commission-to-investigation-allegations-of-anticompetitive-conduct-by-regional-fuel-retailers/4eb3ac2d-fa27-40bd-9cce-705ccb4a0f44" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>ACCC to investigation allegations of anti-competitive conduct by regional fuel retailers</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Alliance for </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/gambling" rel="" target="_blank" title="Gambling "><span>Gambling</span></a><span> Reform spokesperson Mark Kempster said the blind boxes use the same tactics as the gambling industry.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"When you're buying something with an unknown outcome, it's the same as gambling on something that has no outcome on it as well," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's definitely a form of gambling. We see it a lot in trading cards and things along those lines as well. It's quite a big thing in Australia."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/australia-urged-to-crack-down-on-blind-boxes-due-to-gambling-fears/cc716416-1ac8-4bab-8014-3501cb47e154" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/singapore" rel="" target="_blank" title="Singapore"><span>Singapore</span></a><span>'s Gambling Regulatory Authority recently announced it was working to mitigate the gambling risks posed by blind boxes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"These pose risks to our youth in particular as they are exposed to gambling early," Singapore's Gambling Regulatory Authority board member Cecilia Chu wrote in an opinion piece in </span><em><span>The Straits Times</span></em><span> in November.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kempster called for Australia to follow with education programs in schools so that young people are aware of the different forms of gambling.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You need to understand the pitfalls of it and the issues that can come from it if you fall into it at a young age," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's this gambling culture we build in society, thanks to the way the gambling is advertised in Australia, that's doing this, and then it's filtering down to all these other parts of life."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>How exactly are blind boxes a form of gambling?</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/jetstar-international-customers-booted-from-qantas-lounges-under-new-rules/9ce2f752-a9c8-4acd-9937-825b8a528178" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Some Jetstar customers booted from Qantas lounges under new rules</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>QUT consumer behavioural expert Gary Mortimer explained that buyers, regardless of age, experience a "powerful rush of dopamine" when they tear open a blind box.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This is from the anticipation they feel with not knowing what is inside and the joy and satisfaction after opening the box. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Everyone can relate to that excitement of ripping open a birthday or Christmas present or the anticipation before discovering what a package in the post contains," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In fact, the rush of good feeling is very similar to what gamblers experience."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mortimer said that rush is based on Burrhus Skinner's theory of Operant Conditioning - changes in behaviour due to either positive or negative reinforcement.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In the case of blind boxes, the reinforcement is positive," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"However, Skinner also found that one of the most powerful forms of positive reinforcement (getting subjects to do what you want them to do) occurs when there is a 'variable ration of reinforcement', more commonly referred to as 'reward uncertainty', and this is where the analogy with gambling comes in.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Simply, if you give customers a predictable set of rewards, then they lose interest quite quickly. If it's unpredictable, they tend to establish behaviour which is very hard to extinguish."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-19-what-happened-on-this-day-voskhod-2/79051106-a7f2-4209-b348-646a1fc97eed" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Astronauts had to battle for survival after spacecraft lands in deeply remote forest</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>ANZ analysis found that unpredictability led to higher sales as buyers made decisions based on how much they had already spent on blind boxes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Because of blind boxing, people don't know which one they'll get, so they keep buying until they find the one they want," the bank said in August.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If they don't find it in the first few boxes, they may feel that they can continue buying further, since they already have bought a few."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>9news.com.au has contacted Pop Mart for comment. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>