I’ve seen that gambling is not allowed in games. You cannot allow players to gamble their actual currency/money to possibly receive a reward. However, I cannot seem to find out for sure if this also bans games from having entirely free to play slot machines.
Can a game have “gambling content” that isn’t actually gambling? i.e, Entirely free to play slot machines. I don’t see how this would be different than allowing players to open up a free loot box. It’s a free chance at a free reward but I can’t find anything specifically saying whether the format (slot machine versus loot box) makes a difference.
I saw your other forum and was making a response but it closed. Here was what I was going to respond with:
If it’s purchasable using robux and can be collected for free then that is a bit of a gray area depending on what type of gambling you are introducing. If it’s something like a case (where you obtain something which cannot be converted back into a currency of monetary value), it would likely be fine. (As long as it isn’t unplayable levels of gambling, i.e. it isn’t a main feature and the game doesn’t push/recommend you do it).
But if you resort to something like slot machines or other forms of gambling that directly reward you back with that currency then that is definitely a violation.
My current system is entirely free to play slots that give in-game currency used only for in-game items. The slot itself does not accept any form of payment to play whether in-game or robux, it only rewards in-game currency.
Currency can be purchased by a vendor with robux instead if you don’t want to use the slots or other games but I would have no issue removing the vendor if that was a violation since it falls in a gray area.
I’m guessing by what you are saying this seems to be okay then and would only be a violation if the machines were not free to play.
Thanks for clearing things up.
To add onto this: There are many ways to gain currency. Slots are only one way.
From my understanding, the output of the gambling mechanic does not matter. What I understand is that simply any inputs for the gambling mechanic must not be purchase-able, meaning that if you spent e.g. credits to roll, and you got a mix of cosmetics, tokens or credits as rewards, that would be fine AS LONG AS you cannot purchase credits with Robux. I believe the point is to prevent kids not understanding the chances and stuff of the gambling mechanic and mistakenly spending a large amount of money, however my understanding is only from the games I have played, and how they interpret the rules, which could be incorrect.
I know it’s resolved but a little extra context. This is kinda a grey area in how it’s documented. You don’t need to have it in the content maturity given that it’s unplayable depictions so long as what you’re depicting isn’t luck based. In other words if the assets are a game that is luck based or atleast have elements out of a player’s chance then it does fall under the majority descriptor
Based on what you said with how you’re using it. I’d bet that is likely a violation since you can still purchase the fake currency through a vendor using robux (making it an actual monetary currency). If you wanted to be extra safe you could one of these options:
Make the game (17+): This allows your game to have unplayable amounts of gambling and the form you wanted. But it restricts your potential player base to a miniscule fraction of what it would’ve been if you didn’t have that restriction.
Make it free to play, in a sense that you don’t need to purchase a currency (causing it to not have any monetary value), and since it isn’t unplayable levels of gambling, it would be fine. But profit wise, it might not be the best decision (depending on if you want to make money on this)
Make the actual slots something that is restricted not to currencies, but instead unlockable quests, or something like a daily spin, or even a reward. This allows you to keep your current money system while making the gambling within the TOS.
Likely to refrain from +17 restrictions (I’d prefer +13 to gain a bigger audience) I’ll go with option 2 and remove the vendor entirely. There are gamepasses and some clothing that is sold in the game so there is still some monetization but I’m not too worried overall.
I’d prefer to have a bigger audience over trying to over-monetize and cater to a smaller demographic.
The game will be entirely free to play with all currency earnings being entirely free from free-to-play minigames including slots. Hopefully this will be enough to not break any violations.
Reposting here since the original post was unlisted
Quoted from the Roblox community standards page:
Except where prohibited by local law or regulation, we allow unplayable gambling content, such as references to gambling and related imagery. However, we prohibit both simulated and actual gambling activities on the platform. No real money, Robux, or in-experience items of value may be exchanged in connection with any gambling activities.
There’s a bit of a grey area since it says “we prohibit simulated and actual gambling activities” followed by “nothing can be exchanged in connection with gambling activities”
Yea, this is why I made a post because it doesn’t read clearly. There are many very popular games that even have loot crates and you can buy currency or earn currency in-game for these crates.
But I know “slots” (even without any gambling mechanics) might be seen differently. But if these loot crates are allowed I can’t see how free to play slots couldn’t be either.
Really wish they were more clear on these regulations.
From my experience, it won’t be worth your time and effort to add slot machines (or any casino related machine) to any game.
I once uploaded a game that simulated a Casino, with clear odds, featuring primarily slots and blackjack. Despite using a free-to-gain currency which cannot be purchased or exchanged for anything of significant value, as well as having literal playtime limits to avoid addiction, they permanently deleted the game and refused to re-instate it. When quoting that exact section of the terms of service, they state:
The account “appravo” received a moderation action for publishing an Experience that violated the Roblox Community Standards: Illegal and Regulated Activities (Gambling Content)
After reviewing all the available evidence the consequence for this conduct will not be adjusted.
When asking them whether or not it can be re-instated if I made it 17+ and marked it as gambling in the maturity content rating, they still refused.
I believe that’s because the game you made clearly reflects the boundaries in which Roblox states is beyond a legal level/maximum exposure to gambling aspects and content, since it is basically a direct recreation of actual gambling with similar real-world odds, since that is clearly unplayable levels of gambling since the entirety of the gameplay is built around it.
Roblox refusing to apply the (17+) filter and reinstate the game could also likely come from the fact that is was uploaded for a certain/extended period of time as a lower age range/content maturity before moderation. Since many games that are removed for breach of TOS and content maturity also stay removed even if changes are made, causing the game to need to be published again separately.
And it is also important to keep in mind that certain locations and regions allow Roblox players to play (17+) games but prohibit or limit gambling based ones even if it directly falls under the (17+ content maturity). So even if you make changes, it could still be prohibited to play and upload in your area.
BIGGEST OF ALL: Asking or trying to make a game (17+) requires your account to also be ID verified, otherwise it will be taken down regardless.
So yes, casino-type gambling is definitely a no-go. But having gambling aspects like cases or pet eggs (which reward the player regardless, even if it’s a bad item) is clearly within TOS. It’s only if you have a chance of losing your purchase/buy-in, and you can possibly win back the currency you spent, that its identified as a stronger form of gambling.
You probably just need to upload it again separately because there are tons of cases of people uploading strong gambling games only for it to be and stay taken down after appeal requests and fixing the game to fall within TOS and content maturity.
But if it’s re-uploaded following the recommendation and ruleset then there is no probable cause for any moderators to take the game down. You could also have very likely gotten a bad moderator (not like that’s uncommon nowadays) that didn’t put ample effort into checking off the details to see if it’s allowed, or they simply were to lazy to provide help.
Thanks for the extra information though. And yeah, Roblox is pretty vague in their content maturity, even for things like horror/fear since it’s hard to determine what exactly should fall under (17+), vs what is recommended to be since most horror games usually tread the line between being (13+) and (17+) depending on the gore, but Roblox doesn’t really care enough to make it more apparent.
