Before we go into any further details, it’s best to explain what a Gacha game actually is. Gacha games are those that consists of capsules, packages, chests or other similar things that players can open for a chance to get in-game rewards in various forms such as new characters, equipment, cards or something else of the sort. The reward you get from these is entirely random so you can either end up with something extremely rare and worthwhile but, at the same time, there’s also the chance that you’ll end up getting something you already have or something that isn’t necessarily worth writing home about.

Now, as for whether or not these games can be considered gambling, there are lots of factors that have to be considered when making this decision. First and foremost, there’s the fact that that you’re simply giving money in hopes of getting a reward that’s worth significantly more than what you initially paid which, of course, does sound like gambling.

However, while Gacha does seem like gambling at first sight, there’s also the fact that players don’t necessarily have to use real world money in order to utilize these Gacha mechanics. A lot of Gacha games tend to give players access to quite a few of these randomized loot boxes for entirely free so there’s certainly a difference between how gambling works in the real world and how you’re acquiring items in these Gacha games and this is why one can’t clearly say that Gacha can be considered gambling but, at the same time, you can’t say otherwise as well because, as mentioned earlier, you are essentially betting cash in hopes that you’ll get a reward that’s worth several times more.

Upon analyzing these games further, you’ll get to know that there are actually various different types of Gacha mechanics being used in them. There’s the box Gacha which is essentially the standard style which gives you the chance to win various things upon opening a loot box, there’s a re-draw Gacha which gives players the ability to re-roll whatever they win once or twice and there’s also a type known as Step-up Gacha in which your chances of getting something rare will keep on increasing each time you open up a box, capsule or something else of the sort.

Some of the aforementioned Gacha types could be considered gambling such as the usual box Gacha as you’re betting in hopes of getting a massive reward that you’re not guaranteed to get but, at the same time, some Gacha types like the Step-up Gacha seem to be more forgiving and favored towards players so, again, one can’t necessarily make a clear distinction regarding whether or not these could be considered gambling.

All said and done, there are certainly several things that need to be considered before making a final call on whether Gacha can truly be considered gambling and the aforementioned information is just the tip of the iceberg as this is quite the in-depth talking with lots of points that are worthy of debate. With that being said, we leave it in the hands of the players to decide for themselves whether or not they consider Gacha to be gambling.