When Jagex introduced the Squeal of Fortune, they did so with the premise that the mini-game was balanced. Powerful and expensive rewards were relegated to untradeable and extraordinarily rare chances, and each player was only offered one spin per day (two for members). Today, however, Jagex has reversed years of outspoken anti-real money trading policies by introducing an update allowing players to purchase extra spins.
Spins can be bought in packages of 10, 20 (with 5 bonus spins), and 40 (with 35 bonus spins) for $5, $10, and $20 respectively. Jagex has denied that this constitutes paying for an advantage as players are not buying a specific item. The company has also denied that this constitutes gambling as there is no chance of “loss,” as players will always win something, even if it is a cheap 50 coin payout.
The gambling issue, however, stands to be a very important one. This update puts Squeal of Fortune in a similar bracket with lotto bags that many free to play games offer, and depending on if anyone decides to bring question, may constitute gambling and be subject to varying restrictions, laws, and even bans depending on the country.
Regardless of any potential and currently unknown legal implications, this move is sure to draw fire from the community, thanks in part to Jagex’s extreme stance over the past decade against any form of extra payment in return for advantages, and the justifications from developers (see above) as to how this does not violate the core principles is not being received well.
Hopefully more to come as this story develops.
MMO Fallout 
Um, how about a source? Or late April Fool’s joke?
Hey,
Unfortunately this is not an April Fool’s day joke. I don’t run fake news articles because it just gets confusing when real news comes out that day or the following day.
As far as I can see, there aren’t any news posts mentioning this. If you log in, however, and check the daily “Squeal of Fortune” interface, you can see the “buy more spins” which brings you to the order form with the rates I listed above.
I was away from the main computer and had to write this article on my iPad. I’ve updated the article with a screenshot of the purchase page.
-Omali
This is a pretty poor system in my opinion; they’re going to need to abolish the older system of P2P because if RuneScape uses this new system, then it’s just a different payment system. I think F2P with microtransactions can be strong, but they’ve had a LONG time with the current P2P system, if anyone is a member, I can feel they’d be infuriated if they don’t continue to do this, and they pay even more for things that they’re already paying for. Very silly move by Jagex.
Infuriated is a mild term for the community response in Runescape. In the two days since this was introduced, Jagex’s official forum thread for it has received 1040 pages (over 10,000) posts, nearly every one from an upset player wanting them to remove the update.
BOYCOTT JAGEX LTD. TO STOP MICROTRANSACTIONS
Hello,
As I’m sure you’re all aware, Jagex has introduced microtransactions to RuneScape. Using real-world money, players can now buy spins on the “Squeal of Fortune” to earn a very significant chance at winning ingame experience, gold coins, or powerful items previously available only through legitimate means such as fighting boss monsters.
This is entirely contrary to the spirit of Runescape and Jagex’s own rules, which have always said that ingame money may not be exchanged for real-world cash. There is now little reason to legitimately play Runescape, as someone else can always gain more experience, ingame money, and items than you by making payments to Jagex Ltd., rather than training their character and earning ingame items legitimately.
Microtransactions obviously could turn out to be very profitable for Jagex. However, if we the players can organize a massive boycott of RuneScape, including membership as well as advertising revenue, as well as other JaGeX products, then Jagex may lose enough revenue to make them reverse this violation of what the game has stood for during the last 11 years.
The players of Runescape must refrain from purchasing microtransactions; in addition, they must cancel their memberships and refrain from visiting the Runescape web site to deprive JaGeX of all advertising revenue, or only visit it enough to spread the word about the boycott. All players of RuneScape who post videos about RuneScape on video-sharing websites must post videos encouraging players to participate in the boycott. Word of the boycott must also be spread on 3rd party forums and Internet Relay Chat.
ALL RuneScape players, and players of other JaGeX games, must participate in this boycott if they oppose microtransactions on principle.
If we the players can make our voices heard on Jagex’s bottom line, they may have no choice but to reverse this change.
– Zarfot, a (former) RuneScape player