Valve has removed the option to trade items in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 in The Netherlands. Dutch players received a message on Steam in which Valve explained the decision to prevent prosecution from the Dutch Gaming Authority.
"In May, we received two letters from the Dutch Kansspelautoriteit [Dutch Gaming Authority], stating that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 contain 'loot boxes' that violate the Dutch Betting and Gaming Act", the statement reads. "The Kansspelautoriteit accusation is different from how other countries think about loot boxes, so we hired Dutch legal counsel, looked at the recent Study into Loot Boxes published by the Kansspelautoriteit, and learned more about Dutch law. We still don't understand or agree with the Kansspelautoriteit's legal conclusion, and we've responded to explain more about CS:GO and Dota 2."
In April the Dutch Gaming Authority declared some loot boxes as gambling:
"Loot boxes contravene the law if the in-game goods from the loot boxes are transferable. Loot boxes do not contravene the law if the in-game goods from the loot boxes are not transferable."
From today, June 20th, it started enforcing this loot box ban. Dutch news network NOS suggests that two other publishers did not comply, in this case EA's FIFA 18 and PUBG Corp.'s PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds. Both could be facing a huge fine: starting with 830,000 euro or, if more, 10 percent of global profit, which in the case EA could be more than 400 million euro.