Roblox gambling: What are the concerns inside the popular online game?

The last nine months have delivered headlines that are tricky to ignore. Roblox, a digital gaming playground, has faced tough questions, legal action, and more scrutiny than ever on the topic of gambling. The Roblox ecosystem, its Robux virtual currency, and the very player safety have all been linked to concerns about the topic.

So what’s going on, and what may be done? These are big questions, and lie at the heart of ongoing issues. Here, we’ll look at the facts. We’ll see where Roblox sits on the question of gambling, and cover the actions of other parties using Roblox to attract (underage) users. I’ll also offer a view as an adult gamer who has rarely and legally gambled.

The Escapist recaps 

• Simulated and actual gambling is prohibited according to Roblox community standards.
• More Gacha games and Robux transaction buttons are appearing on Roblox. 
• Illegal Roblox casinos have reportedly earned millions by targeting players from Roblox, including minors.
• A class action lawsuit was filed against Roblox and allowed to proceed in September 2024.

The Roblox stance

I want to start things from a solid foundation and share where Roblox stands on age and gambling. For the uninitiated, it is a gaming platform with no clear minimum age limit for access. Some games are for ‘Ages 5+’, and children under 13 have restricted features, so no access to ‘moderate’ labelled games, which include ‘unplayable gambling content’.

Unplayable gambling content would be references to or depictions of gambling without actual games of chance. Roblox Community Standards state that simulated/actual gambling activities are prohibited on the platform. Also, “no real money, Robux [platform currency], or experience items of value may be exchanged in connection with any gambling activities”.

All of this is sensible, and there are certainly no gambling games on Roblox. However, if there is a way for developers to earn within the guidelines, you can bet some games will seek that out. And if titles abiding by the guidelines have no gambling mechanics, but make money and become popular, you can bet those games will be replicated. 

“Brainrot Economy”?

In The Dark Side of Roblox Gambling, YouTuber Pappo points to such replication and a “Brainrot Economy” building on Roblox, with money at its core. That is, the Roblox platform has an increasing number of games where, while gambling is absent, “about 15%” of screen real estate is taken up by buttons: buttons linked to Robux purchases and referral programs.

Pappo points to obstacle-focused ‘Obby’ games. These are constantly appearing, with colorful ‘Items’, ‘Daily’, and ‘Store’ buttons, always on-screen, promoting purchases over plot. To be clear, these buttons don’t support gambling, but they do place (what I’d call) an emphasis on the use of the Robux currency, which is bought with real money.

Roblox guidelines would dictate that none of these buttons involves a game of chance. Yet it seems an increasing number of games do provide a chance-based approach. Gacha games (Genshin Impact is a non-Roblox example) do include elements of chance. And these games can offer Roblox loot boxes. Is this (per The Conversation) “child gambling”?

Pappo’s and my own concerns relate to age, and in researching Roblox Gacha games, I’ve seen titles intended for “Ages 5+”, where acquiring randomized items does require spending Robux. Questioning whether children aged 5+ should see that mechanic feels valid. Gachas offer chance-based gaming, and on Roblox, young children can play them. That’s not great. 

Beyond Gacha 

Concerns about children’s encouragement to engage in purchases, or Roblox Gacha games accessible by young children, are on-platform issues you’d hope the platform constantly assesses. Yet, the platform has been accused of failing to act quickly against off-platform predators, in the form of illegal casinos. 

As reported in a December 2024 Sky News story, illegal casinos have allowed children to use Roblox credentials to bet Robux on “games like slots and blackjack”, fuelling addiction. Clearly criminal in design and outside of legislation, such illegal Roblox gambling sites have earned millions of dollars, negatively impacting the lives of children and their families.

In 2023, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Roblox by the parents of five US children, and it was able to proceed in September 2024. So it’s now clear that Roblox requested takedowns of two illegal casinos (BloxFlip, RBLXWild) in March/April 2022. Yet the platform didn’t take further legal action until October 2024, some 18 months later. 

That doesn’t feel very active for such a huge issue, and there has been more concern this year. In March 2025, the Danish Gambling Authority reported concerns with ‘skin betting’, where users gamble on the platform using Robux to win skins. This is all starting to feel like an existential issue that could heavily impact the future of Roblox.

Final thoughts

Where does all of this leave us? For my part, as an experienced gamer who has played Gacha games, earned loot boxes, tried microtransactions, and also (very legally) gambled on rare occasions, I feel an acute unease. After all, I wasn’t outright exposed to active gambling until my late teens (I’m British, and our age requirement is 18). 

More pointedly, I wasn’t exposed to in-game prompts for transactions, games of chance, or even loot boxes until I was well into my late 20s or early 30s. To think that young children may have exposure to such mechanics and find illegal sites is frightening. I hope Roblox does more to protect children on-platform and is relentless in pursuing bad actors off of it.

Ask The Escapist

References

1. The Dark Side Of Roblox Gambling (YouTube)
2. ‘Literally just child gambling’: what kids say about Roblox, lootboxes and money in online games (The Сonversation)
3. Illegal casinos are using Roblox to draw children into online gambling (Sky News)
4. Skin betting and loot boxes – Video gaming or gambling? (Spillemyndigheden)