Has Roblox Enabled Underage Gambling?
By Movieguide® Contributor
A federal judge has allowed a class action lawsuit to proceed that accuses Roblox of knowingly enabling underage gambling.
The lawsuit comes from a complaint filed in August 2023 that alleges Roblox allowed and profited off of third-party websites that allowed users to gamble using Robux — Roblox’s currency. Rather than shut these websites down, Roblox collected millions of dollars from the 30% fee that comes from translating Robux into real-world currency.
“The plaintiffs allege that Roblox has created a clearinghouse for illegal transactions within the virtual playground, and that Roblox facilitates those transactions and profits from them,” explained U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. “They allege that these deliberate design decisions by Roblox created the risk of harm to the minor plaintiffs who otherwise would not have been exposed to the virtual casinos.”
Chhabria believes that given the size of the casinos and the likelihood of their existence in the first place, Roblox is at least partially responsible for the harm they exposed children to.
“It seems entirely foreseeable that developers would want to create highly addictive experiences, such as gambling games, that entice users to spend a lot of Robux,” he wrote. “What’s more, according to the complaint, the virtual casinos were well known to both users and Roblox itself.”
“The three virtual casinos launched widespread marketing campaigns, prominent Roblox social media influencers discussed or endorsed the virtual casinos, and Bloxflip had over 5.7 million monthly visitors in 2022,” Chhabria continued. “[It is reasonable to infer that] Roblox knew how these virtual casinos operated and could foresee the probability that minors would navigate to these sites and gamble their Robux away.”
The penalties Roblox might face could be extremely severe as the complaint includes allegations that the website violated RICO and racketeering laws along with half a dozen other federal and local rules and regulations.
There is no court date currently set for the trial.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Roblox Corp. and its subsidiaries, which run the popular game Roblox, were hit with a class action lawsuit for allowing minors to gamble on the platform.
“Roblox registers each and every exchange of Robux for gambling credits and allows illicit gambling, by minors, using the Roblox website,” the lawsuit says. “All of the gambling transactions require Roblox’s affirmative support to continue. Roblox profits from these transactions to the detriment of its users, including its minor, adolescent and teenage users.”
Rather than function like a typical game, Roblox offers users access to the building blocks to create their own games, which they can upload for others to play. One of the systems native to the site is the transaction of Robux, a virtual currency that can be purchased for real money at an exchange rate of roughly 800 credits per $9.99.
While there are a variety of reasons players may choose to purchase and spend Robux, one of the most common is gambling. Numerous players have set up casinos on the site which illegally cater to minors.