The complaint outlined the process by which minors can use the Roblox platform to gamble. After purchasing Robux through the platform, they can navigate to one of the gaming website defendants’ “virtual casinos” outside the Roblox ecosystem and link their Robux wallet to the gambling website, meaning Roblox can still keep track of electronic transfers, the lawsuit said.
While Roblox could halt this “illegal gambling ring,” Colvin and Sass argued that it’s “significantly enriched” by the scheme. They allege that Roblox charges a 30% fee on the websites’ conversion of Robux back into dollars, raking in “millions in annual cash fees.”
I have no love for Roblox, but if it’s a completely different website, isn’t this kinda…not their fault?
It sounds like those IRS scams that want you to pay with iTunes gift cards – no one claims that Apple is running the scam.
The article claims they were aware and didn’t stop it, and that’s why they are at fault. Maybe they could’ve revoked the API keys for those gambling sites? But is that even how it’s set up? (I don’t actually know how Robux work.)
The difference is you can’t cash out Apple gift cards, and this is precisely why games generally don’t allow it either: when you allow cash-token-cash conversions, then you turn the token into a cash-equivalent, becoming responsible for any misuse just the same as if you offered a banking account.
But Roblox got greedy, and not only do they allow cash-token-cash conversions (at a crazy rate of $100 USD = 10,000 R$ = $35 USD), but they also allow third parties to interact with it, with fully centralized knowledge and control.
I think a more important difference is that Apple isn’t involved in the transfer of the card from one person to another.
It sounds like Roblox is involved in each transfer and could cut off access to the third party site once they find out it is actually a gambling site.
The combination is definitely worse, but if Apple allowed one person to charge a card, and a different person to get the cash out, they’d still be involved in the transfer of the cash, so they’d still fall under all the banking regulations.
Roblox in this case got the worst combination possible: cash transfer, full control, gambling, minors. Like, what were they thinking about (…unless, they got so much profit that they don’t fear any fine).