in the attention On September 18, British creator Sliker addressed the audience tearfully during his Twitch livestream. “It’s time to tell the truth,” he sobbed. “I lied to a lot of people…I borrowed money from other people.” He admitted that he pryed at least $200,000 from other streamers and fans, a move he claimed was the result of a gambling addiction Counter Strike Global Offensive“I’ll meet streamers and ask them if they can borrow money,” he said. “I won’t give them a reason because that’s gambling. I’ll lie to them.” His partner status has since been stripped and users can no longer subscribe to his channel.
Sliker’s scam on several high-profile streamers has drawn new attention to Twitch’s close relationship with gambling, which has existed on the platform for years. Critics say that for impressionable viewers, watching their favorite streaming bets can be a route into an expensive, sometimes illegal, and potentially life-destroying addiction. Twitch says it has been “actively reviewing” gambling content and plans to make changes in October, but some streamers want it off-platform entirely.
On Twitch, you can stream slots, sports betting, poker, and other games that are legal in many places. Many streamers do this as part of lucrative sponsorship deals in which companies give them money or referral codes to play games on their sites in front of an audience. It’s mutually beneficial: streamers earn huge salaries — some claim they make millions — while gambling companies turn big-name streamers into live ads for their services. According to TwitchTracker, “slots” is currently the 10th most watched category on the platform.
Twitch does not allow streamers to share referral codes, affiliate links or links to sites featuring slot machines, roulette or dice games, but according to the company itselfThe platform is in the midst of a “crypto gambling boom”, although many crypto gambling sites are not legally allowed to operate in places like the US. Since crypto casinos are basically located overseas, they circumvent gambling regulations, but U.S. players can still access them using a VPN. Crypto casinos are also showing no signs of slowing down; in August, Bloomberg reported that crypto casinos are still attracting younger players, thanks to their continued presence on Twitch and endorsements from celebrities like rapper Drake.
Gambling, legal or not, has long been viewed as a nuisance by some members of the Twitch community. Shortly after Sliker’s confession, well-known Twitch stars Pokimane and Mizkif joined streaming and marketing agency co-founder Devin Nash to discuss Sliker and the role of gambling on the platform in a livestream. They came up with a campaign to pressure Twitch to ban gambling: 1 week boycott A high-traffic holiday on Twitch during Christmas. Nash, in particular, has insisted that gambling leave Twitch, Call up It’s “horrible for the platform” and “does harm to young Twitch users, bad for legitimate advertisers, and reduces the quality of the entire site.”
twitch Announce On Sept. 20, it will update its policy, effective Oct. 18, to explicitly prohibit streaming gambling sites “including slot machines, roulette, or games that are not licensed in the United States or other jurisdictions that provide adequate consumer protections. Dice game,” the company tweeted. Currently, the list includes crypto casinos Stakes.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobert.com, although Twitch noted that the list could grow as they begin enforcing the new guidelines.
To be clear, this isn’t an outright ban on gambling — it’s a crackdown on crypto casinos. Twitch will still allow live streaming of legal events like sports betting, fantasy sports and poker, and even games of chance like US-licensed slots or craps.superior TwitterNash called the move to abolish offshore cryptocurrency gambling sites a “step in the right direction,” noting that it could make streaming gambling on Twitch more difficult and lead consumers to pay attention to things like deposit limits Be protected – these protections may “reduce the many tragic stories we’ve seen from people who started gambling on Twitch.”
“But what we’re fighting for is a ban on luck-based gambling because it’s objectively harmful to the site and its users,” he wrote. Twitter earlier this week. “Not this one. Luck-based gambling will continue to exist on the site on October 18.”
