I think “cause” is a little bit of a strong word here unless there are studies I haven’t seen. The studies I’ve read are about correlation between simulated gambling and problem gambling. A child who spends a lot of time on simulated casino games is more likely to problematic gamble as an adult - but that’s not a causal link. The child could like the simulated gambling and real gambling because they were already predisposed to gambling in general.

The problem with loot boxes and micro-transactions tied to chance is they let kids actually problematic gamble. And this lootbox/real world money style of gambling is also correlated with problematic gambling in adulthood yet they’re being left at mature instead of 18+. It really doesn’t make sense treating simulated only gambling harsher.