Twitch Prohibits Gambling Streams

In recent years, there has been a lot to do to gamble on Twitch. Recently, there was another fuss, after which the streaming platform has decided to intervene. From October 18, there will be a ban on Twitch on gambling streams from illegal online casinos with slots, roulette or dice games. The controversial online casino Stake.com is one of the sites that is no longer allowed to appear on Twitch.

After threats from major streamers, Twitch has decided to intervene against gambling streams. As of October 18, it will be prohibited to play streams at gambling sites that offer slots, roulette, and dice games and are not licensed in the United States or other jurisdictions.

Twitch explicitly mentions in its statement Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com.

The streaming platform also announces that websites that focus on betting on sports, fantasy sports, and poker will continue to be allowed.

Major streamers demand ban of gambling streams on Twitch

Last Saturday, Abraham “Sliker” Mohammed, a Twitch streamer with nearly half a million followers, went live on his channel. In a twenty-minute video, he tearfully admitted that he had scammed fans and fellow streamers to fund his gambling addiction.

He raised at least $200,000 which he then used to bet money on the outcome of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matches. He borrowed some of this money from his fellow streamers. In the video, he said he will repay all creditors.

Streamers Felix “xQc” Lengyel and Ludwig Anders Ahgren immediately decided to indicate that they will try to repay the victims if they have sufficient evidence that they were scammed by Mohammed.

However, for other big streamers like Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo, and Devin Nash, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They decided to make a plan in a joint stream to get Twitch to ban gambling streams. One of the threats was a strike during Christmas, which would save Twitch a huge amount of money from advertising revenue. A few days after the announcement, the streaming platform decided to grant the streamers’ request.

Years of fuss around gambling on Twitch

In 2021, “Slots” was the second most viewed category in the non-gaming section on streaming platform Twitch. During the year, there were a whopping 287 million hours viewed in the slots category.

More than a year ago, the streaming platform already intervened by banning gambling streams with affiliate links and bonus codes. That happened after some major content creators rebelled against gambling on Twitch. They wanted the streaming site to ban gambling in its entirety. It didn’t get that far then and in April 2022 there was another uproar when Tyler “Trainwreck” Faraz Niknam announced that he earned millions of dollars a year from his deal with the illegal online casino Stake.com.

Another popular streamer, Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo, announced that same week that he had turned down a $10 million offer from the controversial casino. In return, he had to gamble fifteen hours a month on his Twitch channel.

The Canadian streamer Felix “xQc” Lengyel has also been causing the necessary commotion around gambling for years. In 2021, xQc decided to stop gambling streams due to a gambling addiction, but he then could not resist the temptation when he signed a sponsorship deal with Stake.com. In June, he announced that his fans had already gambled $119 million (€111 million) with his sponsor.

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