Gambling Commission: Illegal casinos are exploiting minors through Roblox
An investigation has concluded that a number of illegal online casinos are allowing underage gamblers onto their platforms.
Key points:
– A number of illegal casinos have been allowing children to gamble using the Roblox in-game currency, Robux
– Roblox has denied any involvement with the illegal casinos, which allow users to sign up using their Roblox credentials
– It has been revealed that users aged as young as 12-16 years old have been betting up to £175,000 on some of the sites
A Sky News inquiry has led to an emergency investigation by the UK’s Gambling Commission after it revealed that a number of illegal online casinos had been encouraging minors to participate in underage gambling via the children’s game Roblox.
Conclusive evidence of illegal casinos utilising online game platform and game development program Roblox to lure in underage gamblers (some of whom are as young as 12 years old) has been discovered as part of a Sky News investigation.
Roblox allows its users to design and develop their own games, as well as access other people’s games on its website. A component of the experience is the faux in-game currency, Robux, which can be used for purchasing in-game experiences at a rate of around £1 ($1.27) for 100 Robux.
Unlicensed casinos are not published on the Roblox website. However, they allow children to register by using their Roblox credentials – and are evidently marketed to appeal to a similar demographic to the Roblox platform.
Once a Roblox user signs up for a given illegal online casino, the casino can access their Roblox account and is able to convert their Robux balance into casino chips, which can be used to bet on online casino games, such as slots. Robux winnings can then be withdrawn as cryptocurrency and exchanged into regular cash.
Good to know: Data from one illegal casino, BloxFlip, which has now ceased operations, revealed that children as young as 14 had gambled £52,000 on the site, with one 16-year-old’s account displaying a total spend of £175,000
At present, it is unclear how many of these illegal casinos are currently operational via Roblox. However, the Gambling Commission is currently launching an urgent investigation into the matter.
Sky News’ investigation focused primarily on three of the most large-scale Robux casinos, BloxFlip, Bloxmoon and RBLXWild – concluding that the sites record around 2.8 million joint monthly visitors, taking millions of pounds worth of bets each month.
Roblox has fallen under severe legal scrutiny over the matter and is currently facing a court battle against the parents of five children who accessed the illegal casinos. Evidence already presented as part of the lawsuit has revealed that Roblox was aware of BloxFlip since March 2022, when it began sending numerous takedown requests to the platform.
Speaking exclusively to Gambling Insider, a Gambling Commission spokesperson commented the following: “Illegal gambling is serious and clearly we’re concerned. We have been very active in this space in recent times. In the last seven months (since April) we’ve had more than 75,000 urls removed by search engines, and more than 250 websites taken down.
“In this case, we have already been in contact with hosts and registrars to get these sites removed and both sites have now been removed. Criminals will always look for ways to target vulnerable people and we would ask parents and carers to be vigilant about the sites used by children.”
This latest development closely follows a report, published by the Gambling Commission last month, containing research into gambling among young individuals, aged between 11 and 17 years old.
Also sharing his thoughts on the Roblox illegal online casinos issue, Bob Waller, Consultant at law firm Spencer West LLP spoke to Gambling Insider, stating the following: “Illegal gambling sites are created by criminals in the main. Their aim is to take money and have few morals as to who they take it from, minors and problem gamblers alike. They are unscrupulous and will avoid paying out winnings at times if they think that can get away with it.
“In this case these illegal sites are leveraging the popularity of the Roblox game and the ease in which the in-game currency is transferrable to their gambling sites. The casino games provided will generally have an appeal to younger people who may not even be aware they are gambling for real as they may consider what they are doing is contained within the Roblox platform. Gambling regulators have great difficulty in identifying the ultimate owners and managers of these sites as they are hidden via many layers of Internet data services and co-locators and use pseudonyms as well as bogus companies to set up their on-line services.
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