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End of the Line for Twitch Gambling Streams
By Shane Addinall Sep 21, 2022 IndustryThe largest streaming platform announced a ban on gambling streams to exclude slots, roulette, and dice games from specific platforms. Will the ban stop irresponsible gambling streams or open doors to new sites?Following persistent and increased pressure from its biggest streamers, Twitch announced a ban on certain gambling streams. The popular streaming platform mentioned a lengthy review of the best way forward to protect community members. It concluded that a policy update prohibits streams from what they classify as unsafe sites.
Announced via its Twitter page, Twitch mentioned specific gambling sites included in the ban, which takes effect on 18 October 2022. Famous gambling streamer, Trainwreckstv and fellow gaming streamer xQc believe the news of the ban links to the uncovering of a scam by Twitch streamer Sliker.
Biggest Influencers Threaten to Boycott
In the announcement on Twitter, Twitch mentions how contentious the gambling streams topic has been in recent months. The biggest streamers on the platform heavily debated the consideration, including gamer pokimane, who has 9.2 million followers on Twitch.
Imane “Pokimane” Anys rallied her anti-gambling peers to threaten Twitch with a boycott if the platform continued with gambling streams. Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo and Devin Nash joined forces with pokimane to include over 11.3 million followers in their #TwitchStopGambling campaign scheduled for the holiday season.
After months of deliberation and the scam debacle with Sliker, Twitch took to their Twitter page to officially announce a ban on all streams that include, among others, non-US licensed gambling platforms.
In the tweet, Twitch wrote:
An update on gambling on Twitch. pic.twitter.com/lckNTY9Edo
— Twitch (@Twitch) September 20, 2022The post mentions Stake, Rollbit, Duelbits, and Roobet as excluded from the site. Sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker streams will continue on the site for the time being. Twitch noted that updates would follow and may include further restrictions.
Streamers Up in Arms
Streamers with opposing views and different content approaches have been at each other's throats for a while, with the latest drama unfolding because of the Sliker scam debacle. Sliker, a fellow streamer, recently admitted to scamming his followers, which fuelled the gambling-ban activists even more. According to Devin Nash, gambling hurts the streaming site's reputation, and the streamer demanded the site sort out the issue.
The UK-based streamer convinced community members to help him through financial hardships. After receiving approximately $300,000 in donations, Sliker admitted it was all a rouge to support his gambling addiction. He acknowledged on the streaming site that he used the money to wager on sports and to purchase loot boxes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Regardless of his confession, Sliker’s page remains active on the site.
The gambling streamer with the largest following on Twitch believes the ban comes only because of the scam revelation. Trainwreckstv also points to the fact that Sliker used sports betting and fantasy sport, but these streams remain legal on Twitch.
Cause and Effect
The large community and revenues from gambling streams could be why Twitch took so long to address the concerns. Online gambling revenues exploded in recent years, and so has the live streaming community. What results will come from the ban?
Trainwrecks and fellow gambling streamer xQc, boast a combined following of 13 million. However, there are other popular gambling streamers on the platform. Twitch excluded sports betting, poker, and fantasy sports from the ban, and some argue this is because these games relate to skill-based gambling.
With the obvious demand for gambling streams, alternative options will appear shortly. Streamers and followers can decide the way forward as the details unfold on the Twitch ban.
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