Jess has never touched a slot machine, played the lottery or bought a scratch-off, but she fears she may have a gambling problem nonetheless.This July, the 28-year-old found herself spending up to $270 a week on blind boxes – that is, surprise items that are sold in sealed, opaque packaging. Activewear companies, bookshops and even candy stores all sell mystery bundles of their products, but the brands currently dominating the market produce collectible toys with cute but unusual names. If you want a complete collection of Labubu, Smiski, Dimoo, Pucky, Skullpanda or Sonny Angel figurines, then you will have to buy blind box after blind box, sighing at every duplicate and praying the next package contains the creature you need to finish the set.“It’s silly but it is very addictive,” says Jess, who is based in Ireland but prefers not to reveal her full name or occupation. Jess started buying Labubu dolls in April after seeing them on TikTok: these strange, toothsome and fuzzy monsters have exploded in popularity this year thanks to celebrity endorsements and social media hype. Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind Labubus and many other mystery collectibles, is now estimated to be worth $40bn – but in June, the company’s stock briefly plunged after a Chinese state media publication condemned blind box marketing as predatory.Jess believes she is addicted to blind boxes: after she tried banning herself from buying them in July, she “snapped” and suddenly found herself ordering 25 more. Sitting at home and waiting for parcels to arrive, she would itch to go out and physically get some more: “I would end up buying stuff that I didn’t care about just for the thrill of opening a box.” Jess found herself purchasing mystery plushies from the brand Squishmallows, which she doesn’t even like. “I’d open them and be like, ‘Why do I now have this squishy lobster?’”Jess says opening blind boxes feels like gambling because of the highs and lows: “Whenever you get the one that you wan