A Sky News investigation has found a network of illegal casinos allowing children to gamble using their accounts on the hugely popular children's game Roblox. In response to our investigation, the Gambling Commission has taken action against the 'criminal' websites.
Illegal online casinos are using Roblox, one of the most popular video games in the world, to draw children as young as 12 into online gambling, a Sky News investigation has found. Warning: This article contains a mention of suicide. The unlicensed casinos allow children of any age to sign up using their Roblox accounts and bet their in-game currency on games like slots and blackjack. Winnings can be withdrawn as cryptocurrency - and then converted into real cash.
Wild. Altogether, the sites receive around 2.8 million visitors each month and facilitate millions of pounds worth of bets. In response to Sky News' findings, the Gambling Commission has launched an urgent investigation into the Robux casinos and has blocked them from the UK. 'Criminals will always try and find new ways to exploit people, including children,' the regulator's chief executive Andrew Rhodes told Sky News.
Wild since July 2024, when this website was purchased by Bloxmoon. Between April and October 2024 alone, users placed bets worth $22.3m. The casinos' owners paid out only $20.1m as winnings, keeping the remaining $2.2m as revenues. That's an average revenue of $10,281 per day. Other casinos may be making even more money. Of the eight casinos identified by Sky News, the most popular is BloxFlip, which receives an average of 2.
Wild since at least April 2022, when it contacted their hosting providers asking that the sites be shut down. It was only in October 2024, however, that Roblox initiated legal proceedings against the websites - accusing them of copyright infringement and breaking its terms of use. Roblox denies all wrongdoing and says it 'employs multiple methods to detect and disrupt bot accounts' connected with the gambling websites.
Wild was later also taken down only to re-appear at another new address. The websites continued to receive thousands of dollars worth of bets until 2 December, when users again began complaining that the site was blocked in certain countries, including the UK. One of the website's staff told users in the official chatroom that they could get around the block by using free software that masks a computer's location.
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