Dave Baszucki, the CEO of Roblox, told the New York Times Hard Fork podcast that adding gambling to the platform could be “a brilliant idea” and described the platform’s predator issue as “an opportunity” while outlining the company’s plans for AI moderation and facial age estimation. The report of the interview captured a tense back-and-forth, and the hosts had flagged the line of questioning in a post on X before the episode.
To be clear, Roblox pitched *us* on interviewing their CEO about child safety. We don't ambush people. But he seemed totally caught off-guard by the questions, and got angrier the more we asked. pic.twitter.com/Cs8e96czpU
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) November 21, 2025
The remarks landed against an already fraught safety backdrop. Roblox is named in a Texas lawsuit alleging it put profits ahead of child safety, according to a BBC report, and separate complaints are documented on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, which the platform has faced in the past here. Watchdog warnings from Common Sense Media were highlighted by ABC News when it flagged children being exposed to inappropriate content on ABC. A separate Console PC Gaming piece documents the petition demanding Baszuckis resignation and the public outcry over those concerns that petition.
Baszucki answered the child safety questions by saying “We think of it not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well.” He doubled down on the companys technical approach, pointing to AI for text moderation and to facial age estimation alongside behavioral signals, photo ID uploads, and user-suggested age. When pressed about whether predators are a problem on Roblox, he said “I think we’re doing an incredible job at innovating relative to the number of people on our platform and the hours, in really leaning into the future of how [moderation] is going to work.” That framing did not satisfy critics who point to individual cases and broader systemic risks.
The interview took a stranger turn when the conversation shifted to prediction markets and Polymarket, and the hosts asked whether some form of betting could be put inside Roblox. Baszucki responded that he thought it “sounds very fun and obvious; I love that” and later called it “a brilliant idea if it can be done in an educational way that’s legal.” Policymakers treat gambling and loot boxes very differently across countries, and the hosts suggested the idea was alarming in a kid-focused ecosystem. At the same time Baszucki acknowledged the patchwork of laws around such mechanics.
Roblox has also reportedly explored adding dating-style features for over-21 users. Console PC Gaming previously covered the company’s interest in building more adult social features and how that intersects with safety debates plans to add virtual dating features. Other reports surfaced about the company testing or discussing such features in external coverage.
For many parents and safety advocates, the comments about gambling and the upbeat tone on moderation will feel like a mismatch with the complaints and legal actions already in motion. If even one child encounters sexual or abusive material, critics say, that’s one too many, and public pressure has already produced a petition and ongoing calls for clearer action on that petition.
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