During a tough Twitch stream on September 18, UK-based creator Sliker gave a tearful confession to his audience. “It’s time for the truth,” he said between sobs. “I lied to a lot of people…I borrowed money from people.” He had, he confessed, prying at least $200,000 from fellow streamers and fans, a move he said was the result of a gambling addiction that began with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. “I ran into streamers and asked them if I could borrow money,” he said. “I wouldn’t give them the reason because it was gambling. I would lie to them.” He has since been stripped of his partner status and users can no longer subscribe to his channel.
Sliker’s scams of several well-known streamers draw new attention to Twitch’s sticky relationship with gambling, which has existed on the platform for years. Critics say that for impressionable viewers, watching their favorite streamers placing bets can be a gateway to an expensive, sometimes illegal, potentially life-destroying addiction. Twitch says it has “actively reviewed” gambling content and has plans for changes in October, but some streamers want it off the platform entirely.
On Twitch you can stream slots, sports betting, poker and other games that are legal in many places. Many streamers do that, part of lucrative sponsorship deals where companies give them money or referral codes to play games on their sites for viewers. It’s mutually beneficial: streamers bring in high salaries — some claim they make millions — and gambling companies turn big-name streamers into live advertisements for their services. According to TwitchTracker, “Slots” is currently the 10th most viewed category on the platform.
Twitch doesn’t allow streamers to share referral codes, affiliate links, or links to slots, roulette, or dice sites, but some streamers have managed to get around those rules, according to the company itself. The platform is in the midst of a “crypto gambling boom”, although many crypto gambling sites are legally prohibited from operating in places like the US. Since crypto casinos are essentially located offshore, they bypass gambling rules, but US players can still access them through VPNs. Crypto casinos are also showing no signs of slowing down. In August, Bloomberg reported that crypto casinos continue to attract young players, thanks to an ongoing presence on Twitch and celebrities such as rapper Drake’s.
Gambling, legal or not, has long been considered a nuisance by some members of the Twitch community. Shortly after Sliker’s confession, prominent Twitch stars Pokimane and Mizkif, along with streamer and marketing agency co-founder Devin Nash, got together on a stream to discuss Sliker and the role of gambling on the platform. They proposed a campaign to pressure Twitch to ban gambling: boycott of a week over Christmas, a busy holiday on Twitch. Nash in particular has been adamant about getting gambling off Twitch, calling it’s “terrible for the platform” and says it’s “harmful to young Twitch users, bad for legitimate advertisers, and degrades the quality of the entire site.”
twitch announced on Twitter on Sept. 20 that it will update its policy, effective Oct. 18, to specifically ban streaming gambling sites “that contain slot machines, roulette, or dice games that are not licensed in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that provide adequate consumer protections.” Currently, that list includes crypto casinos Stakes.com, Rollbit.com, Duelbits.com, and Roobert.com, though Twitch notes that the list could grow as new guidelines are enforced.
To be clear, this is not an outright ban on gambling – it is a blow to crypto casinos. Twitch will still allow streams for legal activities such as sports betting, fantasy sports and poker, and even chance-based games such as US-licensed slot machines or dice. on TwitterNash called the move to do away with offshore cryptocurrency gambling sites “a step in the right direction,” noting that it could make it more difficult to stream gambling on Twitch and lead to consumer protections on things like deposit limits — protections that “would make it harder to stream gambling on Twitch.” number of tragic stories we see of those who started gambling because of Twitch.”
“But what we fought for was a ban on luck-based gambling because it is objectively harmful to the website and its users,” he wrote. Twitter earlier this week. “This is not it. Luck-based gambling will still be alive and kicking on the website on October 18.”
