Illegal casinos are using Roblox to draw children into online gambling
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 (Robux) on games like slots and blackjack.
Winnings can be withdrawn as cryptocurrency – and then converted into real cash.
Roblox is one of the most popular video games in the world, with an estimated 80 million daily active users. Described by its CEO as a “digital playground,” Roblox is particularly popular with children – 42% of its users are thought to be aged 12 or under.
Sky News spoke to one teenage Roblox user in the US who says he gambled around 15 million Robux (£150,000). He started using the sites aged just 14 – seven years below the legal age for gambling in his state.
Robert, 16, says he started gambling on the websites aged 14, and has bet around 15 million Robux (£150,000)
“My mother tried to get me to stop, but I didn’t,” says Robert*. “I just liked the adrenaline of doing bigger and bigger bets.”
He had no idea, he says, that he was committing a criminal offence.
“I just thought it was something you could do to make extra money,” he says. “I didn’t even know what gambling was.”
Sky News’ investigation focused on three of the largest Robux casinos – BloxFlip, Bloxmoon and RBLXWild. 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.
Sky News was able to access data from one of these casinos, Bloxmoon, showing that users have lost a total of $11.4m (£8.9m) on the website since it launched in late 2022.
The data includes bets placed on RBLXWild 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 (£8,149) 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 2.7 million visitors every month according to website analytics company SimilarWeb.
BloxFlip announced it was permanently shutting down less than 36 hours after Sky News presented its findings to the casino and to Roblox.
“The legal team representing Roblox has begun to apply pressure compelling us to close our platform,” a co-owner of BloxFlip wrote in the casino’s official chatroom.
“No more luring minors in and giving them addictions early,” responded one user, who had bet more than 10 million Robux (£100,000) on the site.
A spokesperson for Roblox told Sky News that the casinos are “in no way endorsed or authorised by Roblox” and that the company has taken “numerous steps to disrupt their activity, which violates our Terms of Use”.
“We have a dedicated group focused on identifying potentially fraudulent activity on Roblox and we work collaboratively with law enforcement authorities where possible to pursue the owners of such websites,” the spokesperson said.
“Our efforts have met with some success, but we would welcome further law enforcement action and vigilance from web hosting providers to shut down sites like this.”
Bloxmoon users have lost a total of $11.4 million (£8.9 million) on the website since it launched in late 2022
Unlicensed casinos have ‘no safeguards’
Robert says he started gambling on BloxFlip after seeing an advertisement on social media.
“At first I deposited around 100 Robux (£1) – just something small to try it out,” he says.
“I lost it all. Then I deposited more to try to make up for it, which I lost again. Then I deposited more.”
Soon, he was gambling with his friends every night.
One time, Robert says, a friend threatened to kill himself after losing 20,000 Robux (£200) on a single roulette spin. It wasn’t clear if he was serious, but the group didn’t want to get adults involved for fear of revealing their gambling habits.
“We just tried to calm him down ourselves,” Robert recalls.
Dr Jane Rigbye, chief executive of underage gambling charity YGAM, says that unlicensed casinos have no safeguards in place. This means they are “potentially much more dangerous, both financially and psychologically,” than regulated casinos.
“If children are exposed to gambling at an earlier age, they’re more likely to experience difficulties with gambling later in life,” she adds.
‘Nobody cared’
Robert has no doubt that the websites’ staff know many of their users are underage, based on conversations in the group’s official chatroom on the social media platform Discord.
“There’d be people [in the Discord group] talking about their age in casual conversations with the moderators, the developers of the site,” he says. “They didn’t care. Nobody cared.”
In the BloxFlip Discord users who have wagered at least a million Robux (£10,000) can apply for “Whale” status, giving them a special whale emoji next to their username. Users who have wagered at least 10 million Robux (£100,000) can apply for “Platinum Whale” status.
At least four Whales and two Platinum Whales have openly admitted to being underage in the Discord group.
“I was here since 12 [years old] lol I’m 14 now,” wrote one user, whose screenshots show that he has bet at least 1.1 million Robux (£11,000) on the site.
Another user who is shown to have wagered at least 17.5 million Robux (£175,000), says he turned 16 in November.
He added: “Is it even [worse] that I’m an underage gambler and I have plat whale?!?!?!”
A staff member with the title “head of community” even acknowledged that one “Whale” was underage. After the user stated his height, the staff member said: “you are 14 right you probably got a bit to grow still.”
The user’s screenshots show he has bet more than 5.2 million Robux (£52,000) on the site.
Roblox is being sued over the websites
Roblox is now fighting a class action lawsuit in the US by the parents of five children who used these casinos.
The lawsuit, originally filed in August 2023, was given permission to proceed in September 2024 after a judge ruled that Roblox had to answer the parents’ accusations of negligence.
“They knew for years it was happening, and they didn’t do anything,” says James Bilsborrow, the lawyer leading the case against Roblox.
“Roblox has created a digital playground for children – that’s the purpose of their platform,” he says. “They have a duty to these kids, a duty to keep them safe.”
Court filings show that Roblox has been aware of BloxFlip and RBLXWild 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.
The parents suing Roblox are also taking legal action against the gambling websites, but so far none of the websites’ owners have responded to the lawsuit.
One of BloxFlip’s owners told the website’s users on their chatroom that “many companies get sued” and that it is “part of doing business”.
Taking the websites down
The Bloxmoon website only went offline on 26 November, after Sky News alerted the Gambling Commission which then sent its own takedown request to the website’s hosting provider.
Dozens of users flooded Bloxmoon’s official chatroom, with one asking if the site had been “taken down by the federal government”.
Within 36 hours, however, the website re-emerged at a slightly different web address. RBLXWild 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.
“If you are unable to access the website please use [the software], certain regions could be blocked at this time,” one of the website’s staff said in the official chatroom. “We are handling the situation.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who leads a parliamentary group on gambling-related harms, says that the casinos will continue to pose a risk as long as the owners are able to escape accountability.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News regulators need to have greater powers to track down and punish illegal casino owners
“What you have to do is take them out of the game, so they can’t just move domains,” says Sir Iain. “There needs to be greater powers to seek these people out, arrest them and put them inside.”
Chief executive of the Gambling Commission, Andrew Rhodes, says the regulator is working to identify the casinos’ real owners.
“At the end of the day, illegal casino operators are criminals,” he says.
“They’re supported by criminal gangs and are part of the criminal underworld. It’s important all of us play our part in trying to frustrate them.”
That includes parents, who Mr Rhodes says need to be “vigilant” to what their children are doing online. But platforms like Roblox also need to safeguard the people using their services, he added.
“They have to remember that criminals are always trying to find ways to exploit children and others and be alive to that risk.”
Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission
‘The adrenaline kept him going’
Robert says he quit after realising that gambling had become an obsession.
“I just wasn’t getting the same feeling when I did other things, compared to when I was gambling at home on a Roblox casino,” he says.
He now regrets getting his friends involved, especially one for whom gambling is against their religion.
“He knew he shouldn’t be doing it, but the adrenaline kept [him] going,” Robert remembers. “Then he lost it all in one night, unfortunately.”
While he’s done with Roblox gambling for good, he does see himself gambling at a legal casino in the future.
Would he have said that if he’d never gambled with Robux?
He pauses to think. “Probably not.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
Anyone concerned about their gambling, or that of a loved one, can visit BeGambleAware.org for free, confidential advice and support, or The National Gambling Helpline is available on 0808 8020 133 and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
*Not his real name
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
US
Britain has been playing a role behind the scenes of Trump’s deal between Israel and Hamas | Beth Rigby
Sir Keir Starmer will join world leaders at a historic summit in Egypt today – to witness the signing of the Gaza peace plan to end two years of conflict, bloodshed and suffering that has cost tens of thousands of lives and turned Gaza into a wasteland.
Travelling over to Egypt, flanked by his national security adviser Jonathan Powell, the prime minister told me it was a “massive moment” and one that is genuinely historic.
US President Donald Trump moved decisively last week to end this bloody war, pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas into a ceasefire as part of his 20-point peace plan.
Pic: AP
In the flurry of the following 48 hours, Sir Keir and another 20 or so leaders were invited to Egypt to bear witness to the signing of this deal, with many of them deserving some credit for the effort they made to bring this deal around – not least the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, who pressed Hamas to sign up to this deal.
Today, the remaining 20 living hostages are finally set to be released, along with the bodies of another 28 who were either killed or died in captivity, and aid is due to flow back into a starving Gaza.
Some 1,200 Israelis were killed on 7 October 2023, with another 250 taken hostage. In the subsequent war, most of Gaza’s two million population has been displaced. More than 67,000 Gazans have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
Then, the signing ceremony is due to take place this afternoon in Sharm el Sheikh. It will be a momentous moment after a long and bloody war.
But it is only just the beginning of a long process to rebuild Gaza and try to secure a lasting peace in the region.
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Humanitarian aid rolls into Gaza
The immediate focus for the UK and other nations will be to get aid into Gaza, with the UK committing £20m for water, sanitation and hygiene services for Gazans.
But the focus for the UK and other European allies is what happens after the hostages are released and Israel withdraws its troops.
What happens next is a much bigger and more complicated task: rebuilding Gaza; turning it into a terrorist-free zone; governing Gaza – the current plan is for a temporary apolitical committee; creating an international stabilisation force and all the tensions that could bring about – which troops each side would allow in; a commitment for Israel not to occupy or annex Gaza, even as Netanyahu makes plain his opposition to that plan.
The scale of the challenge is matched by the scale of devastation caused by this brutal war.
The prime minister will set out his ambition for the UK to play a leading role in the next phase of the peace plan.
Starmer arrives in Sharm el-Sheikh. Pic: PA
Back home, the UK is hosting a three-day conference on Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.
Last week, France hosted European diplomats and key figures from Middle Eastern countries, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – and later this week, the German chancellor is hoping to organise a conference on the reconstruction of Gaza with the Egyptians.
But in reality, European leaders know the key to phase two remains the key to phase one, and that’s Donald Trump.
As one UK figure put it to me over the weekend: “There is lots of praise, rightly, for the US president, who got this over the line, but the big challenge for us post-war is implementing the plan. Clearly, Arab partners are concerned the US will lose focus.”
Bridget Phillipson and Mike Huckabee. Pics: Sky/AP
The prime minister knows this and has made a point, at every point, to praise Mr Trump.
His cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson learned that diplomatic lesson the hard way yesterday when she was publicly lambasted by the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for suggesting to my colleague Trevor Phillips that the UK “had played a key role behind the scenes” and failed to mention Mr Trump by name.
“I assure you she is delusional,” tweeted Governor Huckabee. “She can thank @realDonaldTrump anytime just to set the record straight”.
Today, leaders will rightly be praising Mr Trump for securing the breakthrough to stop the fighting and get the remaining hostages home.
People hug next in Hostages Square. Pic: Reuters
But this is only the beginning of a very long journey ahead to push through the rest of the 19-point plan and stop the region from falling back into conflict.
Britain has, I am told, been playing a role behind the scenes. The PM’s national security adviser Mr Powell was in Egypt last week and has been in daily touch with his US counterpart Steve Witkoff, according to government sources. Next week the King of Jordan will come to the UK.
Part of the UK’s task will be to get more involved, with the government and European partners keen to get further European representation on Trump’s temporary governance committee for Gaza, which Tony Blair (who was not recommended or endorsed by the UK) is on and Mr Trump will chair.
The committee will include other heads of states and members, including qualified Palestinians and international experts.
As for the former prime minister’s involvement, there hasn’t been an overt ringing endorsement from the UK government.
It’s helpful to have Mr Blair at the table because he can communicate back to the current government, but equally, as one diplomatic source put it to me: “While a lot of people in the Middle East acknowledge his experience, expertise and contact book, they don’t like him and we need – sooner rather than later – other names included that Gulf partners can get behind.”
Today it will be the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that sign off on the peace plan they directly negotiated, as other Middle Eastern and European leaders, who have flown into Sharm el Sheikh to bear witness, look on.
But in the coming days and weeks, there will need to be a big international effort, led by Mr Trump, not just to secure the peace, but to keep it.
Actress Diane Keaton, who starred in films including The Godfather and Annie Hall, has died aged 79.
Keaton’s daughter, Dexter Keaton White, confirmed her death in California to Sky’s US partner network NBC News.
With a long career, across a series of movies that are regarded as some of the best ever made, Keaton was widely admired.
She was awarded an Oscar, a BAFTA and two Golden Globe Awards, and was also nominated for two Emmys, and a Tony, as well as picking up a series of other Academy Award and BAFTA nominations.
Diane Keaton, with her best actress Oscar for Annie Hall in 1978. Pic: AP
Her best actress Oscar was for the Woody Allen film Annie Hall, which is said to be loosely based on her life.
She appeared in several other Allen projects, including Manhattan, as well as all three Godfather movies, in which she played Kay, the wife and then ex-wife of Marlon Brando’s son Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, opposite him as he descends into a life of crime and replaces his father in the family’s mafia empire.
With Woody Allen in 1978. Pic: Adam Scull/PHOTOlink.net/AP
Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams-Corleone to the “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in the now famous necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis.
Keaton also frequently worked with Nancy Meyers, starting with 1987’s Baby Boom.
Their other films together included 1991’s Father Of The Bride and its 1995 sequel, as well as 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give.
Keaton (centre) with Goldie Hawn (L) and Bette Midler at the premiere of The First Wives Club in 1996. Pic: AP
In 1996, she starred opposite Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler in The First Wives Club, about three women whose husbands had left them for younger women.
More recently, she collaborated with Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen on the Book Club films.
‘Brilliant, beautiful’
The unexpected news of Keaton’s death was met with shock around the world.
Diane Keaton shows her hands after placing them on fresh cement during a ceremony TCL Chinese Theatre in 2022. Pic: Reuters
Her First Wives Club co-star Midler wrote on Instagram: “The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died. I cannot tell you how unbearably sad this makes me.
“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was … oh, la, lala!”
Fellow co-star Goldie Hawn said Keaton had left “a trail of fairy dust, filled with particles of light and memories beyond imagination”.
“How do we say goodbye? What words can come to mind when your heart is broken? You never liked praise, so humble, but now you can’t tell me to ‘shut up’ honey. There was, and will be, no one like you,” Hawn added in a post on Instagram.
“You stole the hearts of the world and shared your genius with millions, making films that made us laugh and cry in ways only you could.”
Actor Ben Stiller paid tribute on X, writing: “Diane Keaton. One of the greatest film actors ever. An icon of style, humor and comedy. Brilliant. What a person.”
Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn’s daughter, posted simply: “We love you so much Diane.”
Last year at New York Fashion Week. Pic: AP
In her Instagram tribute, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award-winning actress and producer Viola Davis said: “No!! No!!! No!! God, not yet, NO!!! Man… you defined womanhood.
“The pathos, humor, levity, your ever-present youthfulness and vulnerability – you tattooed your SOUL into every role, making it impossible to imagine anyone else inhabiting them.
“You were undeniably, unapologetically YOU!!! Loved you. Man… rest well. God bless your family, and I know angels are flying you home.”
Diane Keaton and her children, Duke (left) and Dexter Keaton, at the premiere of ‘Book Club’ in 2018. Pic: AP
Keaton never married.
She adopted her daughter Dexter at the age of 50 in 1996 and a son, Duke, four years later.
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