In December, the popular virtual gaming platform, Roblox, was tangled in a class action lawsuit that claims it facilitated child gambling. The lawsuit was filed by two parents, Rachel Colvin and Danielle Sass, who claimed that their children used Roblox’s in-game currency, Robux, to gain access to unauthorized gambling services. This ultimately resulted in money losses, the two parents argued.
The class action lawsuit filed with the Northern California District Court included several allegations, including claims about RICO breaches which were previously dismissed. Still, despite Roblox’s request for dismissal, a judge recently allowed the case to proceed.
Defending its position, Roblox said that the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230 protects “interactive computer service” providers such as itself from liability for third-party content via its platform. However, the judge reviewing the case concluded that Section 230 doesn’t apply in this particular case, adding that Roblox isn’t held accountable for the content available on its platform.
Instead, the judge said that the lawsuit against the virtual gaming platform accuses it of “facilitating transactions between minors and online casinos that enable illegal gambling, and for allegedly failing to take sufficient steps to warn minors and their parents about those casinos,” as announced by the Verge.
The Virtual Gaming Platform Said Robux Grants Access to Entertainment
Upon requesting the dismissal, Roblox claimed that the minors did not lose money when purchasing Robux which was subsequently used for online gambling activities. The popular virtual gaming platform used a comparison for Robux as tickets to an amusement park or a cinema, adding that this in-game currency is purchasable for the “pleasure of entertainment” rather than the “prospect of economic gain.”
But Roblox’s position wasn’t persuasive enough. The judge in charge of the case argued that tickets for an amusement park or a cinema do not lose their value once they are purchased, reiterating that the lawsuit is focused on the ability of children to access online casinos with the use of the platform’s virtual currency.
Speaking about the company’s comparison, the judge wrote that it has the same analogy as the creation of a casino just outside an amusement park and “luring” children into gambling to lose their tickets.