Balatro has been hit with an 18+ rating by PEGI, a European age rating system that’s used in more than 35 countries, over its allusions to real-world gambling. The game’s developer, LocalThunk, spoke out about the decision earlier this week—and has since contacted PEGI over the choice to lay down the law on a funny game with poker cards in it (but no microtransactions or actual gambling elements), while others with actual, chance-based microtransactions continue with 3+ age ratings unabated.
Unfortunately, the organisation is still adamant that its choices are in accordance with its guidelines, as LocalThunk writes on Bluesky: “[I] talked with PEGI and they do not see anything wrong Balatro being rated 18+, nor with EA sports FC (and similar games) having a 3+ rating.” He goes on to say that the ratings board was “blaming EU laws, blaming storefronts, waiting for the future. Sitting on their hands. I thought some good might come of this, this sucks.”
For context: PEGI’s attitude towards gambling, which you can see laid out on its website, is based on whether a game has allusions to (or could conceivably teach people how to play) games that are used to gamble in the real world: “These simulations of gambling refer to games of chance that are normally carried out in casinos or gambling halls.”
In other words, PEGI’s decision here is technically consistent with its stated guidelines, even if those guidelines are, on the face of it, quite silly. Balatro teaches you how to form certain poker hands, and poker is a game of chance that’s “normally carried out in casinos or gambling halls”. Meanwhile, EA Sports FC 25, a game that lets you buy card backs with real money, does not teach you how to play a game of chance that you could find out in the real world.
As for why some older games with gambling seem exempt, such as 51 Worldwide Games, which is rated 12+ by the organisation? They squeezed themselves in under the wire before the law was changed: “Some older titles can be found with PEGI 12 or PEGI 16, but PEGI changed the criteria for this classification in 2020, which made that new games with this sort of content are always PEGI 18.”
This, according to a statement given to Game Informer at the time, was a “conscious decision not to apply the change retroactively … We wanted to avoid that the exact same game can be found in a shop for two different consoles with two different age ratings.”
I’ve gone ahead and contacted PEGI directly for its opinions on Localthunk’s statement that it was “blaming” EU laws and storefronts, and I’ll update this article if I receive a response. Personally, I think Balatro’s 18+ rating is very silly—and the age rating of games like EA Sports FC is archaic, and potentially irresponsible because as some studies claim, these games can press the same neurological buttons in problem gamblers that real-world casinos do.
However, I do think PEGI has a more complicated task balancing the laws and regulations of 35 countries in its age ratings, especially when compared to something like the ESRB, which handles three (the US, Canada, and Mexico). That’s not to wipe it of all responsibility, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there was some degree of wider politics that led to this baffling state of affairs, especially given some EU countries have flip-flopped on the subject of loot boxes being rated 18+ in recent years. The law, as it tends to do, moves slowly and clumsily to catch up with the modern day.
