Leon Xiao, an Assistant Professor at City University of Hong Kong and a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London, claims that regulators are not effectively enforcing existing gambling laws concerning trading card packs. The rising costs of these products, along with the practices of card breaks and repacks, are making it harder to distinguish between collecting and gambling.
Traditionally, physical trading cards have been categorized separately from sports betting and casino games. However, Xiao argues that this distinction is increasingly unjustifiable. His research, published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, analyzed 50 physical trading card games and collectible sports card packs in Hong Kong.
The findings revealed that 80% of these packs did not provide any probability disclosures on their packaging, while the remaining 20% offered incomplete or misleading information. None of the packs disclosed the odds of obtaining individual cards.
This lack of transparency is part of a broader issue. The emergence of high-value “chase” cards, along with the increasing costs of collector products and the rise of card breaking and repacks, raises significant questions about the boundary between collecting and gambling.
In an interview with Gambling Insider, Xiao discussed the concept of gamblification in collectibles, asserting that many card products already meet legal definitions of gambling and emphasizing the need for regulators to enhance their oversight beyond mere probability disclosures.
According to Xiao, if individuals are risking money for a random outcome, with some results being satisfying and others not, this constitutes gambling. He points out that while the legal definitions may vary by jurisdiction, the core principle remains the same: risking money on a random event with the potential for real monetary gain.
He believes that card packs should be classified as gambling under both common-sense and legal definitions, yet regulators are failing to enforce the laws effectively. Consequently, these products are not currently regulated as gambling, leading to their characterization as “gambling-like.”
Xiao also noted that the collectibles market is experiencing a trend of increasing prices, driven by heightened demand, particularly from adults during and after the Covid pandemic.
Furthermore, he expressed concerns regarding the rise of online card breaking and repacks, suggesting that these activities may pose greater risks. When consumers purchase a share of a box opened by someone else or buy mystery repacks, they are engaging in activities that align more closely with traditional gambling. He argues that these products, including original card packs, fit the legal definitions of gambling in most jurisdictions, and their associated risks could lead to greater potential harm.
Additionally, there are worries about fraud in repacks, questioning their fairness and whether they genuinely contain the rare cards they claim to offer.