Two illegal casinos that allowed children to gamble using their Roblox logins have shut down after a Sky News investigation.
Bloxmoon and RBLXWild “permanently ceased operations” on Tuesday.
“We will always take action against illegal gambling sites, and are pleased these sites have ceased operations,” said Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the UK gambling regulator, the Gambling Commission to Sky News.
“But we would like the public to be aware that criminals will always look for ways to target vulnerable people and would ask parents and carers to be vigilant about the sites used by children.”
Read more: Illegal casinos are using Roblox to draw children into online gambling
The unlicensed casinos were not published games on Roblox, but advertised their gambling on social media to Roblox players and then allowed users, regardless of age, to login using their Roblox credentials.
The users could then gamble Roblox’s in-game currency, Robux, and withdraw any winnings in cryptocurrency. This could then easily be converted into cash.
Roblox is one of the biggest video games in the world, with 80 million daily players.
It’s popular with young children and around 42% of its users are under 13 years old, according to Roblox.
Sky News spoke to one teenager who had gambled around £150,000 worth of Robux from the age of 14.
“My mother tried to get me to stop, but I didn’t,” says Robert, which isn’t his real name. “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.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who leads a parliamentary group tackling gambling-related harms, told Sky News he was “delighted that there has been a swift response but the Gambling Commission and Roblox must remain vigilant to ensure further sites do not reappear.”
In response to Sky News’ investigation, the Gambling Commission had already taken action against the two casinos which were subsequently blocked in the UK.
Now, the casinos say they’ve shut down permanently and are offering their users refunds.
They did not explain why in the websites’ notice to users.
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The third casino investigated by Sky News, 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.
“We welcome the news that these illegal platforms, which pose a severe risk to children and young people, have permanently ceased operations with immediate effect,” Dr Jane Rigbye, chief executive of young people’s gambling charity Ygam, said to Sky News.
“We hope this will instigate stronger cooperation from all stakeholders to permanently shut down more of these sites and prevent them from reappearing under new domains.
“Education about the risks related to gambling is essential to safeguard children, however we also strongly encourage the implementation of stricter rules to hold the platforms accountable,” she said.
Even though the sites have shut down, a US class action lawsuit against them is unlikely to be dropped.
“The harm has been done. They have to account for the harms they’ve caused,” said James Bilsborrow, the lawyer leading the lawsuit.
In response to sites shutting down, a Roblox spokesperson told Sky News they “welcomed the news”.
“Between the numerous steps we have taken to disrupt their activity and decisive action by the Gambling Commission, it is great to see the bad actors who ran these sites feeling the pressure,” said the spokesperson.
“We remain vigilant in the fight against fraudulent activity and will continue to pursue the owners and operators of unauthorised sites such as these.”
The Gambling Reform APPG, a group of UK politicians working to stop gambling-related harms, called the results of the Sky News investigation “incredibly concerning” and called on Roblox to “take stronger action to prevent children accessing social casinos and using ‘Robux’ to gamble on them”.
Sky News was unable to contact the casinos for comment.
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