Twitch to ban streaming of crypto gambling starting October 18
This week, the Amazon-owned streaming site Twitch received a strike threat from major creators over its lenient policies on gambling streams. Twitch then announced Tuesday that it would ban live streams of cryptocurrency gambling sites on the platform starting October 18.
Among the sites affected by the ban are Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com. In a statement, Twitch confirmed that the move is part of its latest policy updates on gambling-related content. It said the platform aimed to ban unlicensed sites that offer “slots, roulette, or dice games” with insufficient consumer protection.
“Today, we want to update you on our plans. While we prohibit sharing links or referral codes to all sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games, we’ve seen some people circumvent those rules and expose our community to potential harm,” the statement reads.
“So, we’ll be making a policy update on October 18th to prohibit streaming of gambling sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games that aren’t licensed either in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection. These sites will include Stake.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobet.com. However, we may identify others as we move forward.”
However, for those against the promotion of gambling, the update might be far from pleasing as sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker will continue to be allowed on the platform.
“We will continue to allow websites that focus on sports betting, fantasy sports, and poker. We’ll share specifics on the updates to our Gambling policy soon, including the full policy language, to make sure everyone is clear on our new rules before they take effect on October 18th,” the statement continues.
Gambling on Twitch
Concerns over gambling-related content on Twitch had not been raised until streamer Abraham “Sliker” Mohammed’s scam controversy.
Sliker confessed that he had scammed fans and fellow creators to fuel his gambling addiction. It was reported that the total amount of the funds Sliker had garnered amounted to over $200,000. This eventually prompted streamers to take a stand against Twitch over the fear that gambling content might harm younger audiences.
“I lost $27,000 by lending to Slicker. I thought I could trust him and I feel like I can’t,” creator Luke “lukeafk” Hansen said in one of his streams this week.
Prominent creators Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo, and Devin Nash were the ones who spearheaded the strike, with over 300,000 people showing support on Twitter.
Regardless, skepticism towards Twitch remains as many creators see gambling-related as a significant revenue generator, making it difficult, if not impossible, for Twitch to ban.
According to TwitchTracker, gambling streams stand strong as one of the most popular genres on Twitch, with over 50,000 viewers. Gambling streamers would often not include gambling as their streaming category. Instead, they hijack Twitch’s JustChatting.
According to Stream Chart, JustChatting is the most popular category on Twitch, with almost 62 million hours watched and 825,090 peak viewership in the last seven days. Slots, on the other hand, ranks tenth with a little over 8.5 million hours watched and 118,816 peak viewership.
