9-Year-Old Spends More Than $100,000 to Promote His Minecraft and Roblox YouTube Channel

Now more than ever, making it big on YouTube is incredibly difficult due to the massive competition around the world. Many aspiring content creators pay for advertising campaigns to get their videos in front of a larger audience, but one 9-year-old YouTuber took things much too far.

Once again, we’re looking at a story that shows how dangerous it can be for children to have access to a credit card. The young boy spent more than $100,000 USD promoting his Minecraft and Roblox videos, an irresponsible move that could cost his father his job and a huge amount of money.

Father helps his son become a Minecraft and Roblox YouTuber

On August 7, 2026, a channel known as Mighty Mike Plays was created. Its owner is only a 9-year-old boy who uploads gameplay videos of Minecraft and Roblox. Most of the videos have received relatively few views, which is completely normal for a channel that is only a month old.

However, on September 14, a video titled “Dad’s message… Mighty Mike Plays is over” was uploaded. The boy’s father took over the microphone to explain the difficult situation his son had caused after spending a huge amount of money in an attempt to make his content more popular.

David Sarkisyan, the boy’s father, explained in the video—which has already accumulated nearly 500,000 views—that his son would spend hours watching Minecraft and Roblox clips on YouTube. At one point, the boy told him he wanted to try uploading his own gameplay.

“And we thought, ‘you know what? At least it’s more interactive than just sitting there watching other people play.’ So I said, ‘sure, we can give it a try.’”

The father explained that the entire process was very simple and that he never intended to put much effort into the hobby. He used the PlayStation 5’s built-in streaming feature to record the content and only had a pair of cheap headphones, as he didn’t even use any editing software.

“The first video he made got about 5 views. Nothing happened, it didn’t take off. But you know, he loved it. He enjoyed it. Every day he’d say, ‘Dad, can I make another video? Can I go record?’ And I’d say, ‘yeah, sure.’ Honestly, I loved sitting next to him and watching him get genuinely excited about playing.”

David Sarkisyan used his company credit card to buy his son Mike some virtual currency for Roblox, but he made the mistake of not removing the payment information afterward. At the time, he didn’t realize his mistake and admits that he never imagined that small detail would have such serious consequences.

9-year-old spends more than $100,000 on his YouTube videos

A couple of weeks later, the 9-year-old YouTuber told his father that he was frustrated because his videos were getting very few views. David Sarkisyan decided to pay for a small advertising campaign costing around $20 USD to increase the reach of one of the videos and expose it to a larger audience.

“I think I put about $20 into a small advertising campaign just to get one of his videos in front of a few people. Nothing crazy, nothing serious. And while I was doing it, I was talking to myself and explaining the process. You set a budget, choose who sees it, hit publish, it stays pending, it gets published, etc.”

Once again, the father failed to remove the credit card information, allowing his son to continue using it for increasingly expensive and extensive advertising campaigns.

David Sarkisyan does not blame his son, as he understands that, from the boy’s perspective, it was easy to spend more and more money in exchange for more views.

“At the end of the day, you have a 9-year-old kid with access to an unlimited advertising account. And the credit card always shows up as approved, no matter what.”

The father says he realized there was a problem when he was called into a meeting at work and asked to explain the $118,000 USD that had been spent through the account. He quickly realized that his 9-year-old son had spent that amount promoting his Minecraft and Roblox videos.

The meeting included executives and members of the company’s finance department, who told him the issue would have to be handled by upper management. The case is still ongoing, as no resolution has been reached yet. David Sarkisyan acknowledges that he could lose his job and that he may very well have to pay the debt with his own money.

“You know, this isn’t a funny story where everything worked out fine. I mean, not yet. There is a real possibility that I may personally have to pay some of it back, or all of it, out of my own pocket. We’re not a family with a six-figure fortune.”

The father says he will punish his son by taking away access to his iPad and PS5, as well as banning him from using his YouTube channel.

“He’s our son. We love him. We’re going to figure this out together as a family. But, you know, seeing six figures spent on unauthorized advertising by our company is one of those moments that really makes you stop and think.”

And yes, that is the end of Mighty Mike Plays.

Cases like this are certainly not uncommon. For example, in 2022, a story went viral after a young player used his father’s credit card and [spent more than $20,000 USD on Genshin Impact microtransactions](LEVEL UP article).

But tell us: do you know of any similar cases? What would you do if something like this happened to you? Let us know in the comments.