Although many studies in recent years have uncovered an important role of receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIP1) in mediating cell survival and death signaling, its potential part in the pathogenesis of cancer remains less understood. Here we report that RIP1 functions as an oncogenic regulator in human melanoma. While the expression of RIP1 was commonly upregulated in melanoma, knockdown of RIP1 inhibited melanoma cell proliferation in vitro, and retarded melanoma growth in a xenograft model. Conversely, despite induction of apoptosis in a small proportion of melanoma cells, overexpression of RIP1 enhanced proliferation in the remaining cells. The promoting effect of RIP1 on melanoma cell proliferation was mediated by activation of NF-κB, as blockade of NF-κB activation eliminated RIP1 overexpression-triggered increase in cell proliferation, whereas hyperactivation of NF-κB abolished inhibition of cell proliferation caused by RIP1 knockdown. In support, RIP1 knockdown led to reduction, whereas its overexpression caused an increase, in NF-κB activation. Strikingly, ectopic expression of RIP1 enhanced melanocyte proliferation and triggered anchorage-independent growth of the cells similarly in a NF-κB-dependent manner. While upregulation of RIP1 was associated with DNA copy number gain in a subset of melanomas, constitutive ubiquitination and subsequent stabilization of the RIP1 protein driven by TNFα autocrine appeared to be another mechanism commonly responsible for upregulation of RIP1 in melanoma cells. Collectively, these results identify RIP1 as an oncogenic regulator in melanoma, and points to the possibility of targeting the NF-κB activating mechanism of RIP1 as a novel approach in the treatment of the disease.