Commentary: Prediction of problem gambling by demographics, gaming behavior and psychological correlates among gacha gamers: A cross-sectional online survey in Chinese young adults

Modifying core items created a novel construct wrongly identified as measuring problem gambling. Tang et al. (1) purported to report that ‘problem gambling’, as they defined it, is associated with monetary spending on video game mechanics that involve randomisation (e.g., gacha mechanics (2, 3) and loot boxes (4)) amongst young Hong Kong players of games containing such mechanics. At face value, that assertion is not surprising, as a consistent line of research has previously established that relationship in Western countries (5–7), which has been relied upon in policymaking (8, 9). Research conducted subsequent to Tang et al. in Mainland China has also replicated the relationship (10).