This illegal casino exposed itself… and in a very surprising way | Science, Climate & Tech News

It’s not every day the organisation you investigated over a year ago emails you to announce it is back to its old ways. 

And yet, that’s exactly what happened.

In December 2024, my colleague Ben van der Merwe and I published our investigation into illegal casinos targeting children on Roblox.

By spring this year, we had already started looking into the casinos again, to see if Roblox or the Gambling Commission had stopped the problem (spoiler: they hadn’t).

That’s when a stunning update landed in my inbox.

“BloxFlip is Back!” it said. “The #1 ROBLOX site has returned under new ownership!”

This was the same casino that announced it was permanently shutting down, less than 36 hours after we presented our findings to the casino and Roblox in 2024.

“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 at the time.

But here it was, revitalised. The branding was the same, and it had clearly maintained its database of users. I had created an account while researching the story, otherwise I doubt it would alert meddling journalists to its resurrection.

Crucially, its modus operandi was exactly the same too: “Instant crypto withdraws and quick ROBUX withdraws.”

This casino, along with the plethora of new sites that have sprung up in recent months, encourages users to log in to the casino with their Roblox credentials, gamble with Roblox items or Robux, the in-game currency, and then withdraw any winnings back to their Roblox account or as cryptocurrency.

Huge amounts of money are gambled on these sites, and users openly declare themselves underage on the accompanying chatrooms, with no repercussions.

Some have geoblocks on the casino websites that stop you from accessing from countries where the casino is not licensed – like the UK.

In another casino, Rollbet, which has now shut down following our investigation, we found multiple examples of staff members telling users to use VPNs to bypass these blocks.

In BloxFlip’s case, a notification was posted on the casino’s chatroom after we contacted the Gambling Commission, telling users that “due to regulatory reasons, we have had to ban the United Kingdom from BloxFlip”.

The last time we investigated, Roblox told us it was taking “numerous steps” to shut down the casinos but needed help from the authorities.

This time, when we followed up, the company did not respond to our request for comment but sources at Roblox told me it is playing whack-a-mole with these casinos, which are actually pretty bad for its reputation.

It still wants support from regulators and law enforcement because the sources say that while it can control what happens on its platform, it cannot control what happens away from it.

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2024: Underage gambling in illegal casinos

That turns it into a problem for the Gambling Commission when it comes to UK users accessing these sites.

One gambling campaigner, Will Prochaska, director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, called it “surprising” and “saddening” that the commission has not “done more to stop” the Roblox casinos.

He argued they would have been able to deal with the issue if they had taken a “systemic” approach, but the commission described the “criminals running unlicensed websites” as unscrupulous.

“This is why we take reports of illegal sites extremely seriously and are already taking action against those flagged by Sky News,” said a Gambling Commission spokesperson.

“We’ve also been in contact with Roblox to draw these websites to their attention and understand exactly what steps they are taking to keep their, often young, customers safe from harm.

“We would also like parents and carers to be vigilant to sites used by children, and to contact us via our confidential reporting service if they become aware of unlicensed operators.”

They also said they are working more closely with other regulators, GamStop, licensed operators, technology platforms, financial sectors and enforcement bodies to try and stop the problem.

Following our investigation, Rollbet, a Roblox casino with more than 35,500 members on its Discord channel, announced it was shutting down.

“Due to operational constraints, ethical concerns, management challenges and staff’s personal reasons, we have decided to wind down Rollbet indefinitely.”

Maybe the next time we investigate this issue, we won’t find any casinos targeting children on Roblox in the first place.

Sky News has approached BloxFlip for comment.