I don’t think that explains the dichotomy in ratings between, say, Balatro and FIFA, one of which let’s you gamble with real currency and the other is a pixelated deck builder.

I’ve played RPGs, aimed at kids and young adults, with full-on casinos in them that didn’t get this rating. Belatro has no microtransactions, there’s no real money involved after purchasing the game itself. I would say it’s less harmful than learning actual poker or blackjack in a kid’s JRPG, since Belatro is not a real game that a person could ever play in real life.

the game has gambling whatsoever. it only has poker aesthetic. it uses the term “ante” to mean “level”, it uses traditional poker hands, and it uses chips to define points. otherwise it’s just a non gambling card game. it would be like putting this rating on go-fish, or solitaire because they use the same cards that poker does.

the association with gambling is entirely superficial. what has everyone up in arms is that there are many games with micro transactions that are especially a roll at the slot machine and intentionally designed using gambling psychology that people lose thousands of dollars at every day. those games don’t have their gambling mechanics considered at all by ratings boards. it shows that pegi doesn’t put much work into their ratings. one game that looks like gambling but isn’t gets and 18+. the many games that have real predatory gambling tactics but hide them are free to do so with impunity.

There’s no gambling in the game. Not with real money, nor with fake money. They labeled it 18+ for “looking like” gambling.

Using the same logic, solitaire should be 18+.

There’s no money involved though, it’s a closed single-player game without a betting mechanic that happens to use playing cards and poker hands for scoring. Meanwhile others have mentioned FIFA and stuff with loot boxes/packs, which are borderline slot machine mechanics that eat money.